Russia is ready for meetings in the Normandy format, but Kiev should not refuse dialogue with the self-proclaimed Donetsk (DPR) and Luhansk (LPR) republics. This was announced on Wednesday, April 14, by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Alexander Grushko in an interview with TASS.
“We have always said that we are ready for meetings in the Normandy format. They are constantly walking, communication between representatives is being carried out, the Contact Group is working. But the question is different: the question is that Kiev is sabotaging the Minsk agreements. At the same time, as I have already said, it is trying to justify its line of scrapping the Minsk agreements by the need for protection from “aggressive Russia”, this is obvious, ”he said.
Grushko clarified that Kiev refuses to dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk, thereby not only violating the Minsk agreements, but also the possibility of resolving the situation.
“Therefore, meetings in the Normandy format may make sense, but this is a format that is unambiguous in order to support the negotiation process between the parties to the conflict themselves, that is, Donetsk and Luhansk on the one hand and Kiev, while Kiev refuses to speak with them, thereby violating not only the letter and spirit of the Minsk agreements, but also the very philosophy of reaching a political settlement, ”the Deputy Minister explained.
According to Grushko, “any way out of a conflict situation, and Europe has accumulated enormous experience in this regard, presupposes a dialogue between the parties.”
On the same day, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that the de-escalation of the situation in Donbass would be possible only if Kiev refused to provoke. He also noted that the US authorities are able to induce Ukraine to abandon provocative actions.
On the eve of April 13, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that Kiev is aimed at a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Donbass. He noted that the authorities are not planning any offensive military action, but they will not lose their vigilance if “a spiral of violence begins.”
Earlier, on April 10, Russian State Duma deputy Ruslan Balbek assessed Kiev’s plan to peacefully resolve the conflict in Donbass. According to him, Ukraine is trying to fog up the information space and is constantly evading the implementation of the Minsk agreements, which were adopted to resolve the conflict in Donbass.
On April 3, it became known that for the first time since July 2020, after the entry into force of additional ceasefire measures in Donbass, Ukrainian security forces used artillery pieces prohibited by the Minsk agreements during shelling of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic.
Since 2014, Kiev has been conducting a military operation against the residents of Donbass, who refused to recognize the results of the coup and the new government in Ukraine. The settlement issues are being discussed in the Minsk and Normandy formats – with the participation of Ukraine, Russia, France, Germany.