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Russian, German foreign ministers look to prospects of dialogue at Normandy Four

Sergei Lavrov and Sigmar Gabriel shared views "on European security, topical international issues, including implementation of the Minsk accords aimed to settle the Ukraine crisis"

MOSCOW, February 17. /TASS/. Russian and German foreign ministers, Sergei Lavrov and Sigmar Gabriel, held talks on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, focusing on prospects for cooperation in the Normandy Four group on Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Lavrov and Gabriel shared views "on European security, topical international issues, including implementation of the Minsk accords aimed to settle the Ukraine crisis, prospects for cooperation within the Normandy Four format," the ministry said.

The first meeting in the so-called Normandy Four format was held in France, on June 6, 2014, during celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the landing of allied troops in Normandy, when the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany for the first time held talks to find a solution to the conflict in southeast Ukraine.

In February 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko held 17-hour-long talks in Minsk, approving the Package of Measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements - the basis for peace in Donbass.

The previous ministerial meeting of the Normandy Four group took place in February 2017 in Munich.

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