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Meeting between aides to Normandy Four leaders set for September 2

On Wednesday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that a preparatory meeting between the aides to Normandy Four leaders is in the works

KIEV, August 28. /TASS/. The administration of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky informed of an upcoming meeting of aides to Normandy Four leaders set to take place on September 2. The agreement was announced on the outcomes of Wednesday’s phone call between Zelensky and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"The President of Ukraine has urged to hold an immediate meeting of the leaders of Normandy Four states to discuss the peace process and agree on further steps to regulate the conflict. For her part, Angela Merkel has expressed support of Ukrainian efforts aimed to establish peace in Donbass, agreeing that a top-level meeting must be held in the near future. They have reached an agreement on holding a preparatory meeting between aides to the heads of state and heads of government on September 2 of this year," Zelensky’s press service informed.

During the phone call, Zelensky stated that Ukraine "continues to adhere to its obligations on peaceful regulations in Donbass using political and diplomatic mechanisms," the press service added.

Earlier, during his speech at the press conference after the G7 summit in Biarritz, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the intention to hold a Normandy Four summit in September dedicated to Ukrainian crisis regulation. Chancellor Merkel offered Paris as a possible location for the summit.

On Wednesday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that a preparatory meeting between the aides to Normandy Four leaders is in the works.

The Normandy Four talks on Ukraine have existed since June 2014, when the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany, who gathered in Normandy for the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of D-Day (the landing of allied troops in 1944) discussed the settlement of the conflict in southeastern Ukraine for the first time. Several top-level and foreign minister-level phone calls and meetings have been held since then. The latest Normandy Four meeting took place on October 19-20, 2016 in Berlin.

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