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Russia’s top diplomat certain Normandy Four summit pointless as yet due to Kiev’s stance

The foreign minister noted that Germany’s proposals to discuss the situation in Donbass so far did not include issues related to political reforms in Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Alexei Nikolsky/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

© Alexei Nikolsky/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/. Holding a Normandy Four summit is pointless so far because of the Ukrainian authorities’ stance, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday delivering a video conference lecture for MGIMO University students.

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Ukraine calls on Russia, Germany, France to hold Normandy Four summit

"The summit is out of the question, because everything that was agreed on in Paris has been blocked in the work of the Contact Group and in the activities of the Ukrainian parliament and the Ukrainian government because of the Kiev authorities’ stance," he said.

Lavrov added that Germany’s proposals to discuss the situation in Donbass so far did not include issues related to political reforms in Ukraine. "Unfortunately, what [German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas] said, namely, that he hopes to give a fresh impetus to the implementation of the decisions made at the Normandy Four summit in Paris, <…> is not reflected in those proposals, which Germany has now submitted as an agenda for our ministerial contact," he stressed. "They make no mention whatsoever of the political agreements, which relate to the political reform, which relate to the so-called Steinmeier formula. <…> They make no mention of how the special status of Donbass in legal terms should be incorporated into Ukraine’s legislation on a permanent basis."

Russia’s top diplomat explained that Germany had submitted as an agenda for the upcoming ministerial Normandy Four meeting only issues related to "another prisoner swap, mine clearance, security and the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission’s access to the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics."

According to Lavrov, work lies ahead "to make Kiev, Berlin and Paris talk about why the political issues of the French summit have not been resolved."

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