On March 30, a videoconference was held between French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Among other things, they discussed the situation in eastern Ukraine. Earlier, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called not to negotiate Ukraine without Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a joint videoconference late in the evening on March 30, informs Elysee Palace.
During the videoconference, they discussed, among other things, the situation in eastern Ukraine.
“The need for Russia to take on a firm commitment to stabilize the ceasefire in Ukraine and develop ways to overcome the crisis in accordance with the Minsk agreements,” the Elysee Palace said.
On the website of the German government celebratedthat during the discussion of Ukraine, Merkel and Macron called for negotiations in the Normandy format on the implementation of the Minsk agreements.
In the Kremlin statedthat during the discussion of the war in Donbass, Putin “emphasized the importance of the Kiev authorities fulfilling all the agreements previously reached at the highest level, primarily on establishing direct dialogue with Donetsk and Luhansk and settling the legal aspects of the special status of Donbass.”
“The Russian side expressed serious concern over the escalation of the armed confrontation on the line of contact provoked by Ukraine and the actual refusal to implement additional measures to strengthen the ceasefire regime agreed in July 2020 in the contact group. The political advisers of the leaders will continue to work together,” the statement said. The Kremlin.
Other topics discussed during the conference included the fight against the pandemic, the situation in Belarus, Libya and Syria, Russia’s relations with the EU, as well as the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Leaders’ conversation Russia, France and Germany announced on March 29th. At the same time, today Kremlin Speaker Dmitry Peskov said that Putin does not plan a conversation with Ukrainian President Zelensky.
Speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleg Nikolenko, commenting on the announced videoconference, noted that issues of resolving the situation in Donbass should be considered only with the participation of Ukraine.
In 2014, immediately after the annexation of Crimea, Russia launched an armed aggression in eastern Ukraine. The fighting is between the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the one hand and the Russian army and Russian-backed militants who control parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on the other.
Negotiations on the settlement of the conflict in Donbass are being held in the trilateral contact group in Minsk (Ukraine, Russia, OSCE), as well as in the Normandy format – with the participation of representatives of Ukraine, France, Germany and Russia.
On December 9, 2019, the last summit of the leaders of the Normandy Four was held in Paris. Its final communiqué states that the parties agreed on a ceasefire, the opening of new checkpoints, the exchange of detainees according to the “all for all” formula until December 31, 2019, the disengagement of forces and assets in three new areas in the Donbass, the extension of the law “On a special procedure for local self-government in certain areas” for a year Donetsk and Luhansk regions “and the expansion of the mandate of the OSCE special monitoring mission. Arrangements were partially implemented… The next summit was expected to take place in 2020, but this did not happen.
January 12, 2021 in Berlin took place the first this year negotiations between advisers to the leaders of the Normandy Four. Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Dmitry Kozak following the meeting said that “there is nothing to brag about”.
The head of the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG for resolving the situation in Donbass, Leonid Kravchuk, announced the preparation of a meeting of the leaders of the Normandy Four in April, but the Kremlin denied it.
On March 9, Zelensky said that if the summit does not take place, he ready to meet with the leaders of the Normandy Four – Merkel, Macron and Putin – separately.
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