The Normandy Four meeting between foreign ministers concluded in Berlin last night. It lasted about four hours, but it failed to bring about any concrete agreements. Notably, the Russian and the Ukrainian foreign ministers had a long face-to-face discussion during the dinner. Finally, Sergey Lavrov as well as his counterparts called the talks "helpful." Anyway, the ministers found out each others' stances on issues in great detail, revealing that Moscow, Berlin, and Paris see eye to eye on conflict resolution.
Here's the report by Mikhail Antonov.
It's the first Normandy Four meeting over the past 16 months. The last time the foreign ministers of Russia, France, Germany, and Ukraine took the pulse of the Minsk Agreements was in February 2017 at the Munich Security Conference. Since then, the Four has seen 50% of its members change. Everything else remains intact. Maas replaced Gabriel and Le Drian is now in Ayrault's place; standing between Sergey Lavrov and minister Klimkin at the photo op. But the agenda is almost the same as a year and a half ago.
Sergey Lavrov: "We highlighted that in October 2016 the Normandy Four leaders had been personally engaged in resolving the situation, agreeing on the separation of forces and equipment of the parties in the settlements of Petrovsky, Zolotoy, and Stanytsia Luhanska. This agreement hasn't been fulfilled yet".
Jean-Yves Le Drian: "All the parties agreed on the need for a long-lasting ceasefire and on demining the whole region".
The cessation of shelling would pave the way for the implementation of Steinmeier's plan approved by the Four long ago. It implies both adopting the Donbass Special Status Law and holding elections on the territory beyond Kiev's control.
The exchange of prisoners or detained persons is another issue inherited from the previous meetings. Kiev took the trouble to extend the list of hostages to feel more comfortable while haggling. Lavrov reminded his counterparts of Russian journalist Kirill Vyshinsky, who was charged with high treason in Ukraine just for working as a journalist.
The shape and competence of a UN peacekeeping mission was a relatively new issue that went beyond the Minsk Agreements.
Sergey Lavrov: "We explained that the ideas suggested by our Ukrainian and US colleagues to turn the peacekeeping mission into a military and political command that would control all the territory of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk and decide on whom to elect and how; such suggestions lay waste to the Minsk Agreements. France and Germany seem to understand our point".
Maas talked about "a meaningful dialogue" while Le Drian touched upon "the positive trend". Lavrov also called the meeting useful, though his estimates were more conservative, given his experience. The previous meetings inspired optimism too, but then Washington officials arrived in Kiev, making the Ukrainian regime feel free from the Normandy Four and the obligations it assumed in Minsk.
Mikhail Antonov, Alexander Korostelev and Andrey Putra for Vesti from Berlin, Germany.
