MINSK, February 11. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Minsk for four-partite talks on settling the armed conflict in south-eastern Ukraine that will be held in the so-called Normandy format.
Other participants in the talks, French President Francois Hollande, Germany’s Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko came to the Belarusian capital somewhat earlier.
The summit that is to be held on Wednesday night may signal a culmination of the intense multilateral efforts to tap clues to resolution of the crisis in south-eastern Ukraine.
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Diplomatic efforts on the Ukrainian issue picked pace over the past seven days, as Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande visited Kiev and Moscow where they made public their proposals on how to settle the Ukrainian problem.
On Sunday, the Normandy Four discussed the most recent developments over the phone and appointed a meeting in Minsk for Tuesday.
In the brief interval between the meetings in Moscow and Minsk, Merkel visited Washington for talks with Barack Obama. She said after the meeting that one more attempt to settle the conflict in Ukraine should be made, adding that she would have never pardoned herself if this attempt had not been made.
Hollande told reporters before departure for Minsk he was leaving with a firm conviction a much-desired compromise solution would be found eventually.
Poroshenko said before boarding the jet in Kiev was going to Minsk to cease fire and open a political dialogue immediately and unconditionally.