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DEThe “Normandy Four” (Ukraine, Germany, France, Russia) foreign ministers meeting can take place in September, German Foreign minister Heiko Maas announced during his visit to Kyiv. At the meeting, the parties plan to discuss, particularly, the issues related to the “Steinmeier formula” implementation, local elections in Donbas and the control over the Ukrainian-Russian border.
“All the parties involved understand that we need to meet, not to repeat what was achieved at the Paris summit, but to talk about how these decisions are being implemented. On the one hand, there is a truce. On the other hand, there are mechanisms to be used for control. This also concerns the construction of additional border crossing points,” Maas said during a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.
According to the German Foreign Minister, it is necessary to implement the decisions achieved at the summit in Paris in order to hold a meeting in September.
At the same time, the Ukrainian minister stressed that “the key to stopping Russian aggression is in Moscow.” Currently, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov “does not put forward any additional preconditions for holding a ministerial meeting in September.”
“Our task is to speak on the merits and look for the specified solutions. I am convinced that as of now we have such an attitude. Accordingly, if Minister Lavrov has the same attitude, the key will be not just found but given a turn, so the lock can be opened,” Kuleba said.
Meanwhile, Russia has already reacted to this news. Thus, the Russian Foreign Ministry official representative Maria Zakharova stated that the Kremlin did not know about the preparations of “Normandy Four” foreign ministers meeting.
Bohdan Marusyak
