WASHINGTON, January 6. /TASS/. The United States takes a positive view on an idea of organizing a meeting between the Russian, Ukrainian, French and German leaders, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
The meeting could facilitate the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, she said.
The use of any possibility to settle the situation in Ukraine is a positive step, Psaki said.
At the same time, she said it is necessary to look at where such discussions can lead to. The US is not planning to take part in the meeting due to be held in Astana, Psaki said.
On January 5, the foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France discussed prospects for organizing such talks. However, they failed to determine the time or place of the possible meeting.
At the end of December 2014 Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told a news conference that Normandy format negotiations at the summit level would be held in Astana on January 15.
A Russian diplomatic source told TASS that “January 15 is a date that has been mentioned as a possible one for a future Normandy format meeting.”
The so-called Normandy format was established in June when Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko discussed the Ukrainian crisis on the sidelines of the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the D-Day in Normandy, France.