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Russian foreign minister arrives in Paris to take part in Ukraine settlement meeting

The foreign ministers of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine are expected to spend several hours discussing the situation in Ukraine for the first time since the new Minsk deals were reached
The Foreign Ministers of France, Russia, Germany and Ukraine: Laurent Fabius, Sergey Lavrov, Frank-Walter Steinmeier,  Pavlo Klimkin ITAR-TASS/EPA/SOEREN STACHE
The Foreign Ministers of France, Russia, Germany and Ukraine: Laurent Fabius, Sergey Lavrov, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Pavlo Klimkin
© ITAR-TASS/EPA/SOEREN STACHE

PARIS, February 24. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has arrived in Paris from New York to meet with top diplomats of Germany, France and Ukraine.

The foreign ministers of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine are due to hold a meeting in a Normandy format in Paris on Tuesday to discuss the Ukrainian settlement.

The upcoming meeting, which is expected to last for several hours, will be the first talks of the foreign ministers after the leaders of the four countries had reached the Minsk agreements.

The decisions approved at the February 12 summit in the Belarusian capital included a ceasefire, pullback of heavy armaments, and a constitutional reform that would take into account the legitimate rights of the Donbas population.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel on Monday that the Minsk agreement had become an "international legal document" following the UN Security Council approval of a Russia-drafted resolution.

According to militias, on Tuesday the forces of Ukraine's self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics are to begin heavy artillery pullback under the control of the OSCE monitors. A significant amount of heavy weaponry has already been withdrawn from the separation line, militias reminded.

Donetsk republic’s defense ministry spokesman Eduard Basurin has called on the OSCE monitoring mission to "have the most active role in controlling the observance of commitments not only of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics, but also of the Ukrainian forces."