PARIS, November 27. /TASS/. Russia is satisfied with the meeting of the Normandy Four (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine) political directors held in Berlin on Monday despite the fact that no formal decisions were made at it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday following talks with top French diplomat Jean-Yves Le Drian.
"We are satisfied with the conversation at a meeting between the Normandy format political directors in Berlin yesterday," he said. "Unfortunately, in spite of a useful conversation, the parties once again failed to make formal decisions on the agreements reached by our leaders since 2015, when the Normandy format summit was held in Paris, where a compromise formula was developed on the interconnection between the elections in Donbass and a special status for these territories in full compliance with the Minsk agreements."
According to Lavrov, the parties "will have to discuss this formula again, because the Ukrainian leadership was not ready for that at this stage." "A new [Normandy format] expert meeting will be held in December," the minister added.
On Monday, November 26, Berlin hosted a meeting of the Normandy Four political directors. The German Foreign Ministry’s Political Director, Antje Leendertse, said later in the day that the Kerch Strait incident had been a focal point at the talks. She also noted that the participants in the talks had discussed the situation in eastern Ukraine in general and pointed to the need for a political settlement of the crisis in accordance with the Minsk agreements.