YEREVAN, October 14. /TASS/. A summit of the Normandy Four leaders is still being prepared, with no final agreement reached as of yet, Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
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"So far, we have no information on that. I would like to repeat it once again that a Normandy Four summit is at a stage of preparations. As far as I know, there are no final agreements on that matter. We expect the situation to be clarified in the days to come. Whether it be October 19 or a later date - all will depend on, as President [Vladimir] Putin has said, whether necessary conditions are in place, necessary understanding is reached for the heads of state to meet," he said.
On Thursday, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said that the possibility of a meeting of the Russian, French, German and Ukrainian leaders in the Normandy Format on October 19 will become clear within the next two days.
"The German colleagues proposed holding an informal lunch on October 19 with the participation of the Normandy Format leaders, this proposal remains on table, but its implementation depends on the extent to which the parties will manage to agree by the summit on concrete progress in the settlement (in Ukraine)," he said. "Much will depend on what the aids will work through today-tomorrow," Ushakov stressed.
Germany has not yet made a decision
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has not yet made a decision on convening the Normandy Four in Berlin next week.
"As for next week, I cannot say anything yet, the question remains open," she told a news conference on Friday. "This will depend on the information that I will receive after the working-level talks."
Earlier in the day, German government spokesman, Steffen Seibert, noted that Berlin is ready to take part in the Normandy format summit, but the exact date cannot be given now, as progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements is needed. According to Seibert, this week’s telephone conversations between France and Germany and the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have confirmed that additional expert-level consultations are required.