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Normandy Four needs to urge Kiev to hold direct dialogue with Donbass, says LPR

According to Rodion Miroshnik, although Ukraine is declaring its commitment to the Minsk agreements, it still does not comply with them

LUGANSK, February 9. /TASS/. The Normandy format’s mission is to control the implementation of the Minsk agreements, in particular, on consulting numerous issues with the Donbass republics through direct dialogue, Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) representative in the Contact Group political subgroup Rodion Miroshnik said on Tuesday ahead of the meeting of political advisors of the Normandy Quartet.

"According to the declaration of the Normandy Four leaders, the Normandy Format is empowered with control functions, can hammer out some necessary steps and recommend them to the members of the Contact Group, where all the main issues need to be decided by the parties to the conflict - Donbass and Kiev," the LPR envoy noted. He emphasized that currently, the main task of the Normandy format was "to force Kiev to comply with the Minsk agreements without any twists and distortions, which was possible only through a direct dialogue between the Donbass republics and Ukraine."

At the same time, the LPR envoy pointed out that the recent Normandy Four meetings had not yielded any significant progress. According to Miroshnik, although Ukraine is declaring its commitment to the Minsk agreements, it still does not comply with them.

Earlier today, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that a meeting of political advisers to the leaders of the Normandy format would take place on February 10. The previous talks, held on January 26 in Paris, lasted eight and a half hours. Following the consultations, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Dmitry Kozak said that there was nothing to show for it, noting that the member states should eliminate all discrepancies on the implementation of the Minsk accords.

The Normandy Format has been established in June 2014. That year, during the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Landing in Normandy, leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany discussed the settlement of the Donbass conflict for the first time. Since then, five highest-level meetings have taken place; the last one took place on December 9, 2019, in Paris.

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