MINSK, June 29. /TASS/. The next meeting of the Contact Group on the settlement in eastern Ukraine will be held in Minsk on Wednesday against the backdrop of increased contacts between the Normandy Four members. On June 15, when the previous meeting was held, peacemaking efforts in the Donbass region were discussed by advisers to the leaders of Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France.
According to Konstantin Yeliseyev, deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, the consultations were constructive. The participants in the Minsk meeting reached an agreement on the principles of disengagement of the warring parties, which should be carried out before July 1. They also agreed to maintain contacts in the "Normandy format" to prepare the next meeting of the leaders." Since then, the issue of a new Normandy Quartet summit has been repeatedly raised in Kiev and Paris. French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said that such a meeting could take part in July, adding that the U.S. will take part in it. Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko said while visiting Paris that Kiev has prepared proposals on the agenda of this summit.
However, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov later said that no dates for the meeting of the Normandy Four leaders are discussed on the practical level, as there are no premises for it because of Kiev’s inaction. Moreover, he noted that the Kremlin knows nothing about Washington’s plans to join the "Normandy format."
Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Meshkov told TASS on Tuesday that Russia had submitted its proposals on the electoral police in the Donbass region to its Normandy Quartet partners.
He noted that "the Russian side stands for the development of consensus modalities of the so-called electoral police." "We have submitted the corresponding proposals on this score for discussion with our partners, in particular, in the Normandy Quartet format," Meshkov said.
"The main thing now is not to engage in window dressing with divergences on huge police structures armed almost with tanks but to reach a decision with Donetsk and Lugansk on the normal work of observers who will come to the elections," he noted.
The substance of Russia’s proposals is that "joint work should be ensured so that this electoral police should receive the support of the local authorities," Meshkov added.