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Normandy Four leaders may meet in April, says Ukraine’s chief negotiator

He once again spoke in favor of expanding the Normandy format and involvement of the United States, which, in his words, would render bigger strength and authority to the process

KIEV, March 12. /TASS/. The Normandy Four (Germany, France, Russia, and Ukraine) leader may have a meeting in April. Preparations for it are underway, Ukraine’s chief negotiator in the Contact Group on the settlement of the situation in Donbass, Leonid Kravchuk, said on Friday.

"Serious efforts are being taken at the level of political advisers <…>, they are discussing this key issue - a possible top-level meeting. It is planned, probably, for April but it is difficult to say what will become of it," he told the Ukraina-24 television channel.

He once again spoke in favor of expanding the Normandy format and involvement of the United States, which, in his words, would render bigger strength and authority to the process.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said earlier that a Normandy Four summit was being prepared but if it failed to be organized he was ready to meet with each of the three leaders. In response, Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the best way to prepare a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders would be for Kiev to implement its commitments under the existing agreements on Donbass.

Talks in the so-called Normandy format over Ukraine began to be held in June 2014. During special ceremonies on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the allied landings in Normandy during World War II, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany for the first time discussed ways of settling the conflict in Donbass. A number of telephone conversations and summit meetings, as well as contacts between foreign ministers have been held since then. The latest summit in the Normandy format was held in Paris in December 2019. The summit yielded a statement calling for a comprehensive ceasefire in Donbass, amending Ukraine’s laws in compliance with the so-called Steinmeier formula, and committing Donbass’ special status to paper in the Ukrainian constitution. Most of those provisions have not been implemented by Kiev, which, however, keeps on alleging it has implemented all of the summit’s resolutions.

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