Germany: "No tangible results on Normandy Format" - Russian chief negotiator on Ukraine talks

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There were ‘no tangible results’ on the Normandy Format talks regarding the political situation in Ukraine, according to Russian chief negotiator Dmitri Kozak, who spoke to reporters at the residency of Russia’s Ambassador to Germany in Berlin on Thursday.

The discussions held in the German capital with leaders of Baltic states were a continuation of talks held on January 26 in Paris, focusing on the increasing tensions between Russia and Ukraine and aiming to de-escalate the situation.

Chancellor Scholz is expected to travel to Kiev and Moscow in the following week to talk to both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

SOUNDBITES

SOT, Dmitri Kozak, Russian chief negotiator in ‘Normandy Format’ talks (Russian): “First of all, a political measure to resolve the conflict was the negotiating agenda today. Issues related to the special status of Donbass were to be enshrined in the Constitution. This agenda was previously agreed upon. And we agreed exactly on these issues, that it was necessary to overcome at all costs the different interpretations of the Minsk agreements. But it was not overcome, at least not in the documents. We had a common understanding verbally with Germany and France on how the issues in the political sphere should be promoted. However, Ukraine’s position is adamant. They refused in this document - in the draft statement, that was offered for consideration, they refused even to quote the Minsk agreements that the issues of the future post-conflict status of these territories should be resolved in consultations and discussions with representatives of these individual areas. This is the key disagreement that Ukraine refused to agree to. This is why we tried until the very last [second] to find [a] compromise [of] wording. We even offered to put this point in quotation marks in the final statement. Ukraine categorically refused to do this. And that is why these negotiations dragged on.”

SOT, Dmitri Kozak, Russian chief negotiator in ‘Normandy Format’ talks (Russian): “I did not see a willingness to pressure Kiev. Frankly speaking, I saw attempts to find some convenient niche for Ukraine to continue the line that it has been continuing for the previous 8 years. Neither Germany nor France has shown a firm position today that it is necessary to implement the Minsk agreements in accordance with the letter and the spirit of these agreements in political part, I repeat, today we have discussed only the political part of the Minsk agreements.”

SOT, Dmitri Kozak, Russian chief negotiator in ‘Normandy Format’ talks (Russian): “Taking into account the results of the negotiations, we have agreed that once the first meetings of the contact group take place, we will see how Ukraine will implement the verbal gentleman’s agreement that the political terms will begin to be discussed in the contact group.”

#Ukraine #Kozak #NormandyFormat

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