On March 30 Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron held a video conference in what a statement by the Russian Presidency said was held in a “business-like and frank atmosphere.”
The leaders discussed Ukraine, in which they confirmed the lack of alternatives to the 2015 Minsk Complex of Measures as the basis for a settlement, while Putin emphasized that the Kiev authorities must implement all the previous agreements reached at the top level, including establishing a direct dialogue with Donetsk and Luhansk and settling the legal aspects of a special status for Donbas. Putin expressed serious concern about the escalation of armed confrontation on the contact line, being provoked by Ukraine and its refusal to implement the additional measures to strengthen the ceasefire coordinated by the Trilateral Contact Group in July 2020.
