Kiev 'does not consent' to next Normandy format meeting, blames Russia

Interfax.ru / Fort Russ
Tue, 11 Oct 2016 13:27 UTC

© Grigory Dukor/Reuters

Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko followed by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko and Russian president Vladimir Putin after talks in Minsk

Translated by Tom Winter

Ukraine has not agreed to hold a meeting of leaders of the "Normandy format"

The Ukrainian side has not consented to hold a meeting of leaders of the "Normandy format," said the agency "Interfax" citing a source in diplomatic circles.

"Ukraine did not give consent to participate in the Normandy format summit "So long as there is not an agreed upon "Roadmap," which will provide for the implementation of the security conditions in Minsk by Russia, such a meeting will not take place," said the official close to the negotiations.

Earlier, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that the meeting of leaders of the "Normandy format" could take place in Berlin on October 19.

"The meeting is tentatively scheduled for October 19th. Berlin is proposed," he told reporters, responding to a question about when and where the Normandy Four meeting would happen.

Comment: Kiev conveniently forgets that Putin already nixed them from the Normandy format, and for good reason:

"Vladimir Putin drew his partners' attention to the gross provocations by the Ukrainian side, which sent a group of saboteurs to the territory of the Russian Federation in Crimea to carry out terrorist attacks in early August. Kiev's tendency towards such types of military operations is detrimental to the Minsk Process and cooperation in the framework of the Normandy Format," the report reads.

Normandy 4 now 3: Poroshenko excluded from Donbass discussion