PARIS, January 26. /TASS/. Political advisers to the leaders of the Normandy Format group (Germany, Russia, France and Ukraine) have been holding talks, which started at the Elysee palace at about noon (14:00 Moscow time) on Wednesday, for over four hours, a TASS correspondent reported.
Dmitry Kozak, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office, is heading the Russian delegation. The talks are the first face-to-face meeting of the political advisers of all four Normandy Format countries after more than a year’s break.
Moscow is expected to inform counterparts about its concerns over the state of affairs on the contact line in Donbass. Some streets around the French president’s residence have been cordoned off, with police at the scene.
The previous meeting, which took place in Moscow on January 6, but without the participation of the Ukrainian representative, lasted about 4.5 hours. Kozak is expected to summarize the results of the talks at a press conference at the residence of Russia’s ambassador in Paris. About 30 Russian and foreign reporters are waiting for him.
Recently, Ukraine and some Western countries have been spreading allegations about Russia’s preparations for aggression in Donbass, where Kiev has been engaged in an internal armed confrontation with the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk since 2014.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov castigated these claims as "empty and unfounded," serving as a ploy to escalate tensions, pointing out that Russia did not pose any threat whatsoever to anyone. However, Peskov did not rule out the possibility of provocations aimed at justifying such allegations and warned that attempts to use military force to resolve the crisis in southeastern Ukraine would have very serious consequences.