The Normandy Four – Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany–met in Paris today for eight hours. Their joint communiqué supported an “unconditional compliance with the ceasefire … regardless of differences on other issues related to the implementation of the Minsk agreements.” The governments were represented on the level of advisers to their Presidents, with Dmitry Kozak, the Kremlin deputy chief of staff and Andriy Yermak, adviser to President Zelenskyy, representing Russia and Ukraine, respectively. They agreed to a new round of talks to begin in Berlin in two weeks.
The Normandy Four process has been stalled for years, with the last joint statement coming in 2019. Kozak reported that, “despite all the differences in interpretations, we agreed that the ceasefire must be maintained by all the parties in line with the accords.” Yermak said that the talks were “not easy…. The support for the sustainable ceasefire is extremely important…. The very important thing is that today’s communiqué is the first meaningful document we managed to agree on since December 2019” when Putin and Zelenskyy met.
The Times of India reports that an aide to French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking on background, emphasized that the talks were not about any supposed threat of Russian invasions, but on ending the fighting in the Donbas. The discussions were “difficult,” but, “In the current circumstances, we received a good signal” from the Russians. “However difficult the discussions have been since December 2019, the Normandy Group has been able to agree on several key points.”
Yermak had insisted, on Ukrainian television the day before, that Ukraine was not being forced to attend, and that “the main requirement of Ukrainian society today is to do everything to prevent escalation.”
