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Lavrov hopes Putin-Zelensky meeting in Paris will yield fruit

The Russian foreign minister noted that it’s up to the Ukrainian side to decide whether the presidents will discuss bilateral relations

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Valery Sharifulin/TASS

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. The upcoming contact between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky, in Paris due on December 9 is expected to shed light on Kiev’s stance on the Minsk peace deal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the program ‘Moscow. Kremlin. Putin’ on the Rossiya-1 TV Channel on Sunday.

"This contact will be definitely useful, because we want to understand the Ukrainian leader’s stance on how to implement the Minsk agreements after these ambiguous and contradictory statements made by Zelensky’s office," the top Russian diplomat said.

Lavrov stressed that there is no point in guessing whether the meeting between the two presidents would be a full-scale and full-format one.

"This will be a meeting of the Normandy Four: four leaders will be there together at the same time. The presidential administration has said that Putin and Zelensky would have an opportunity to talk. This won’t be a formal meeting because it will take place on the sidelines of another event," Lavrov pointed out.

The Russian foreign minister noted that it’s up to the Ukrainian side to decide whether the presidents will discuss bilateral relations. "We were not the one who scaled down bilateral ties and cut transportation services. If the Ukrainian side is interested in resuming them, like many experts in Kiev say now, I think we won’t hesitate to do this."

The summit of the Normandy Four (Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France) on ironing out the Ukrainian crisis is scheduled for December 9 in Paris. The meeting will bring together Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.

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Ukraine Vladimir Putin Vladimir Zelensky

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