The so-called ‘Normandy Four’ that consists of foreign ministers from Ukraine (Pavlo Klimkin), France (Laurent Fabius), Russia (Sergei Lavrov) and Germany (Frank-Walter Steinmeier) hold the four hours meeting in Paris on Tuesday, February 24, 2015.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said thay the ‘Normandy Quartet’ agreed on some technical aspects of the peace in Eastern Ukraine:
“We were able to agree on a few technical aspects, including the important aspect of how to support the OSCE mission and how to strengthen its capabilities by maintaining the ceasefire and through the withdrawal of troops,” Pavlo Klimkin said, and added: “We could not find a political decision on how to respond to the recent events in Debaltseve.”
France Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius called on the cooperation with the OSCE:
“We ask for the reinforcement of the OSCE special monitoring mission. We ask all sides involved to completely cooperate with the OSCE to allow this organisation to fulfil its mandate, especially with regard to the surveillance and verification of the withdrawal of heavy weapons,” said Laurent Fabius.
German Foreign Minister paid attention to violations of the ceasefire in Donbas:
“If the withdrawal of heavy weapons was to happen, it would first of all reduce the risk of further violations of the ceasefire and at the same time it would be a step towards rebuilding some of the trust which has been lost between the two sides,” said Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has left the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France before the end of the meeting without comment on the reasons for his leaving, and told reporters the talks were, “useful”.
“Normandy Four” did not find decision on Debaltseve situation and agreed that there is a need in more OSCE monitors in Ukraine.
