MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba distorts the facts while speaking about alleged promises made by Russian President Vladimir Putin to convene the meeting of foreign ministers of the Normandy Four countries (Russia, Germany, France, Ukraine) in the course of a conversation with German and French leaders, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reported on Friday.
"If Kuleba said that Putin had promised to convene the meeting of foreign ministers, it is distortion. Actually, he promised only to instruct to see how it is possible to reach a productive meeting of the heads of foreign ministries," the minister said.
Lavrov specified that during a telephone conversation, Merkel and Macron actively talked the Russian president into the necessity to hold the Normandy Four summit as soon as possible. However, the Russian leader reasonably underscored Kiev’s non-compliance with obligations of the last high-level meeting. "At this point, Merkel and Macron said: "let foreign ministers, foreign advisers work and think about it." Vladimir Putin said: "Yes, let them think." So, we are thinking, but also, we keep in mind what exactly the leaders of the Normandy format talked about and who promised what to whom," Lavrov added.
The Russian foreign minister clarified that the German chancellor and the French president promised Putin "to make utmost efforts to achieve full implementation of the Minsk agreements." However, just two days later, the EU-Ukraine summit took place, following the adoption of a "lengthy statement," where it was directly stated that "Ukraine flawlessly fulfills the Minsk agreements," and Russia was described as an "aggressor country" and "a side of the Donbas conflict," the minister noted. "Upon observing the statement, we immediately contacted our colleagues in Berlin and Paris and asked what it meant. They said that this is the EU’s collective position, that Russia is a side of the conflict in Donbas, and there is no need to communicate with Donetsk and Lugansk. That's all that you can say to Mr. Kuleba over his complaints that Moscow refuses to hold a ministerial meeting of the Normandy format," Lavrov added.