All news

Normandy Four top diplomats eye putting Steinmeier plan in writing

Earlier, Lavrov said the Normandy Four meeting at the ministerial level would be senseless without the disengagement of forces near Stanitsa Luganskaya and putting the Steinmeier formula into writing
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier  Victoria Jones/PA via AP
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier
© Victoria Jones/PA via AP

MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/. On June 11 in Berlin, foreign ministers from the Normandy Four group (Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France) will deliberate on putting the so-called Steinmeier formula into writing and the disengagement in Stanitsa Luganskaya near Lugansk, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said on Wednesday.

"This will be discussed at the ministerial meeting," Karasin said. "We hope that this session will contribute to getting out of the rut in the political process for which Kiev is to blame and moving forward on security issues."

"The disengagement of forces in Stanitsa Luganskaya and confirming that the Steinmeier formula is vital, are the two sets of issues that will play a key role," the envoy noted.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the Normandy Four meeting at the ministerial level would be senseless without the disengagement of forces near Stanitsa Luganskaya and putting the Steinmeier formula into writing.

Former German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s formula to settle the Donbass conflict, which he put forward in late 2015, envisages implementing Ukrainian legislation on a special local self-government rule in some areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions on a temporary basis during local election in Donbass, and on a permanent basis after the publication of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s report on its results.