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Lavrov still sees possibility to hold Normandy summit by year-end

Moscow was disappointed and alarmed by the fact that the Contact Group failed to agree the Steinmeier formula on Ukrainian reconciliation

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/. There is still a possibility to hold a summit of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France, known as the Normandy Four, by the end of the year, but this does not depend on Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the Kommersant daily, published on Wednesday.

"I do not rule this out, but this does not depend on us," Lavrov said. "We all know the story about the implementation of decisions made during the previous Normandy summits. At last, Kiev eventually admitted the need to implement those decisions."

Besides, the Russian foreign minister said Moscow was disappointed and alarmed by the fact that the Contact Group failed to agree the Steinmeier formula on Ukrainian reconciliation.

"A fairly detailed discussion on how exactly the Contact Group should agree upon this formula took place during a meeting of foreign policy advisors in Paris on September 11. As a result, all advisors to Normandy format leaders without exception agreed that the Contact Group needs to sign this document," Lavrov said.

He said that during the meeting, it was suggested that, possibly, not all Contact Group members would put their signatures under the document.

"However, the Russian representative clearly stated that the Contact Group is the format, in which all issues related to the Minsk accords must be solved. All sides represented in the Contact Group - Kiev, Donetsk, Lugansk, OSCE, Russia - have put their signatures under the Minsk agreements. Excluding anyone from the number of signatories will be impossible," Lavrov continued. "Prior to the Contact Group meeting, there were doubts that the big number of signatories was probably the reason why it all failed. But Leonid Kuchma said he does not want to sign anything, or there will be another ‘Maidan’ [uprising] in Kiev."

"However, constantly conducting your policies with an eye on ‘Maidan,’ means leaving your country in the hands of radicals, neo-Nazis and other extremists," he continued.

"To sum it all up - it must be signed," Lavrov said.

He added that possibly, the deal should include some of the aspects mentioned by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadim Pristayko.

"[He said that] it should be signed, but it does not mean that it will be implemented entirely in this form. In fact, they will have to move forward 'by sense of touch,' trying to understand every time how this resonates with the Ukrainian political elite, how Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s circle would try to interpret his declared desire to achieve peace in Donbass, and what this may mean for Donbass," Russia’s top diplomat said.

According to Lavrov, political games aimed at reviewing the Steinmeier’s formula of Ukrainian reconciliation will not help to make progress on the issue.

"I’ve read statements by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadim Pristayko, who said that the Steinneier’s formula must be signed, as was agreed four years ago. He, however, started making some disclaimers, contemplating that the formula is just a formula, and it should be reviewed and changed to become viable," he said.

"But if those statements come as a yet another game to review something that had already been signed, this will not be conductive to the process," Lavrov said. "I hope our Ukrainian colleagues would not follow the example of [ex-president] Pyotr Poroshenko, who simply twists up certain stories related to the work of the Normandy format."

According to the Russian foreign minister, Poroshenko said in one of his interviews that "no Steinmeier’s agreement, no Steinmeier’s formula" was ever agreed, and offered his own view of Steinmeier’s proposals. Lavrov described it as "total distortion of the Steinmeier’s formula."

"Let me remind you that the Minsk agreements say: a law on special status must come first, followed by elections in Donbass. Ukrainian laws are mentioned, but it also mentions that the electoral procedure with OSCE participation must be agreed with Donetsk and Lugansk first. Law is law, but the opinion of those self-proclaimed republics must be taken into account," Russia’s top diplomat said.