BERLIN, January 12. /TASS/. Political advisers to the Normandy Four leaders had an open and useful conversation but no agreement was reached on either of the topics, deputy head of the Russian president’s administration Dmitry Kozak, who led the Russian delegation, said on Tuesday.
"Regrettably, there is not much to boast of," he said after the talks.
He noted however that the sides "exchanged views on all key matters" concerning the implementation of the Minsk accords and the results of the 2019 Paris summit.
"We failed to find final solutions. We agreed to outline new general approaches to the roadmap in the Trilateral Contact Group on the comprehensive settlement of the conflict," he said.
He stressed however that the meeting was quite useful. "Each negotiator outlined his position, his principled approaches to the prospects of the conflict settlement," he said. "But no final solutions were reached on practically each of the matters discussed."
Kozak noted that Kiev is unlikely to follow Azerbaijan’s lead and venture to use force to settle the conflict in Donbass.
"I don’t think so," he told journalists when asked whether Kiev could use force in Donbass. "It would be a suicide to unleash combat operation."
"The ceasefire has been observed since summer one way or another. At least, no large-scale skirmishes have been reported. Resumption of hostilities would be a suicide," he stressed.
The talks lasted for about six hours. The previous Normandy-format meeting of political advisers was held on September 11, 2020, also in Berlin.
Advisers to the Normandy Four leaders have agreed to have another round of talks within the next two weeks to discuss issues of the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.
"We will meet within two weeks to discuss these matters," Kozak said, adding that he doesn’t rule out the talks could be held in the videoconference format.
As for today’s meeting, he recalled that it had been scheduled back in early November but the Russian side had insisted it be held "not for the sake of just talking," but be organized after the agenda and principles were agreed.
According to Kozak, next talks will be held in the same format, i.e. involving political advisers and foreign ministry officials from the four countries. He also noted that the pandemic was a no obstacle for organizing such meetings.