KIEV, June 12. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin considers it possible to hold a meeting of heads of the Normandy Four states (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine) in the near future, the UNIAN news agency quoted him as saying on Tuesday.
"We have discussed the importance of such a meeting in the near future. We have not set any particular dates, but have agreed to work further to outline a general framework and leave two or three issues of solely political importance in terms of heads of states’ decision," Klimkin was quoted as saying. "When we have this logic, we will surely get closer to the summit. There are plans to hold such a summit in the near future, though it should be thoroughly prepared," he said.
The meeting of foreign ministers of the Normandy Four was held on Monday, June 11, in Berlin. Ministers discussed the issue of a potential UN mission, humanitarian problems, as well as issues related to security and adherence to ‘Steinmeier formula’.
The Normandy format negotiations for the settlement of the Donbass crisis have been underway since June 2014 when the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany who gathered in Normandy for the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of D-Day (the landing of allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in 1944) discussed the settlement of the conflict in southeast Ukraine for the first time. Several Normandy Four meetings have taken place at the summit and ministerial levels since then.
The Minsk agreements reached on February 12, 2015 by the Normandy Four leaders envisaged ceasefire and also laid out a roadmap for a lasting settlement in Ukraine, including local elections and constitutional reform to give more autonomy to the war-torn eastern regions. The Ukrainian forces and militias of the self-proclaimed republics have repeatedly accused each other of violating ceasefire and other points of the Minsk agreements.