Opinions & Interviews
European Commission expects breakthrough at G4 summit on Ukraine in Minsk
BRUSSELS, 9 February (BelTA-TASS) – The European Commission hopes for a major breakthrough during the Ukraine peace talks of the “Normandy quartet” in Minsk on 11 February, European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn said as he arrived at the meeting of the EU Foreign and Europe Ministers.
“The talks on Wednesday might result in a major breakthrough. All the participants of the talks realize that it is high time to find a way out of the crisis,” he said.
The European Commissioner underlined that “the humanitarian situation in Donbass is critical”.
Johannes Hahn noted that phone consultations with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin were held on 9 February.
It was informed earlier that the Normandy format meeting will take place in Minsk on 11 February. Besides, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, President of France Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to conduct expert consultations on the level of foreign ministry representatives in Berlin on 9 February and a meeting of the contact group featuring the signatories to the Minsk Protocol on 10 February.
During their first meeting held in Minsk on 5 September the contact group comprising representatives of Kiev, south-eastern regions of Ukraine, the OSCE and Russia agreed on a peace plan and a ceasefire. On 20 September, the contact group on Ukraine adopted a memorandum on the ceasefire. The document includes, among others, the ban on the use of all types of weapons and withdrawal of heavy weaponry back on each side of the line of contact.
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