After a break of several months, the discussions were restarted with a meeting in Paris, at the end of January, in the context of diplomatic efforts to lead to de-escalation in Ukraine.
The meeting did not have the expected result. Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France, gathered under the “Normandy format” – the diplomatic configuration adopted in 2014, during the Donbass War, between Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France – Thursday talked about the Ukrainian crisis for nine hours. “The discussions have been difficult and made it possible to clearly highlight the different positions and the different options of solution,” said sources close to the French and German negotiators at the France-Presse agency. “The meeting lasted long hours and was difficult,” the French presidency abounded.
“The discussion between the advisers has focused on two points: the political measures such as the law review that Ukraine must, within the framework of the Minsk agreements, to discuss with the separatists, and the humanitarian measures accompanying These discussions, particularly in terms of the release of prisoners, “detailed the Elysee. The Minsk agreements were signed in 2015 between Kiev and the Prorussian separatists of Eastern Ukraine, that an armed conflict has been opposed since 2014, making more than 14,000 deaths, according to a last balance sheet of the United Nations.
The discussions go on one aspect: “Russia has accepted the negotiation on the merits, but finally insisted that it is written that Ukraine negotiates directly with the separatists, which constitutes the only red line of Ukraine “, according to the French Presidency.
“It was agreed to meet again after the next meetings of the Trilateral Contact Group in March,” said the German Government, for whom the parties “will continue to work for the full implementation” agreements ” Minsk. “We continue to move forward on the diplomatic pane,” confirmed the spokesman of the French government, Gabriel Attal, on Europe 1.