PARIS, October 2. /TASS/. The leaders of the Normandy Four (comprising Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany) reached an agreement at their summit in Paris on Friday that a special status of Donbas should come into effect after the day of coming elections.
"As for a special status of Ukraine’s eastern regions, we have agreed that the law will be applied starting from the day of the vote," French president Francois Hollande said clarifying that at first the status would be temporary and then would become permanent.
Ceasefire in eastern Ukraine generally observed
The ceasefire regime in eastern Ukraine is observed on the whole, French President Francois Hollande said on Friday following the "Normandy Four" summit in Paris.
"It was in security that the biggest progress has been made since the signing of the Minsk agreements, as the ceasefire regime is now generally observed and as we were able to gradually begin the process of weapons withdrawal," he told the final news conference.
Hollande also noted that the members of the "Normandy Four" hoped that the withdrawal of light weapons with caliber under 100 mm from the line of the contact in eastern Ukraine would begin in the morning on Saturday, October 3. "We discussed security problems in eastern Ukraine to make sure that the implementation of the agreement on the withdrawal of light weapons reached earlier begins tomorrow morning," the French president said. "We expect the comparable progress in heavy weapons as well," he added.
The foreign ministers of the "Normandy Four" will meet in November, French President Francois Hollande added.
"We agreed that the foreign ministers would meet in early November to discuss the progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements," Hollande said.
He added that the "Normandy format" was the correct format, which allowed to move forward in defusing the Ukrainian crisis.