The Russian Foreign Ministry hopes the meeting of
Normandy Four foreign ministers on November 29 will encourage political reforms.
MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/. Moscow is planning to urge
its Western partners to convince Kiev to strictly honor its commitments under
the Minsk agreements during the "Normandy Four" (Russia, Germany,
France, Ukraine) meeting on November 29, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported
on Friday.
"The process of the internal Ukrainian settlement
is difficult," the ministry said. "Neither the provisions of the
Minsk Package of Measures of February 12, 2015, nor the agreements, including
the top-level ones reached in the ‘Normandy format’, designed to promote the
early resolution of the Ukrainian crisis have been implemented in full. The
work of the Contact Group and its working subgroups has stalled. The
responsibility for that lies with the authorities in Kiev who are openly
sabotaging the implementation of the Minsk accords."
This being so, Russia believes its task is "to urge
its Western partners who have an influence on Ukraine’s leaders to persuade
Kiev to strictly comply with its obligations within the Minsk process."
"Taking into account an agreement reached by the
‘Normandy Four’ leaders at the summit in Berlin on October 19, 2016, and the
invitation extended by Germany and France, the Russian Foreign Ministry is
preparing for a new ‘Normandy format’ meeting of foreign ministers in Minsk on
November 29," the statement said. "We see it as a continuation of the
joint practical work to achieve a peaceful solution and give a fresh impetus to
it."
The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that this meeting is
"to support efforts not only on security, humanitarian and economic
issues, but also in promoting the package of political reforms, something our
Western and Ukrainian ‘Normandy format’ colleagues constantly ‘forget’ about,
for some reason."
The ministry recalled that the "Normandy Four"
leaders agreed at a meeting in Berlin on October 19 that all activities on the
political track and in security issues should be simultaneous and
consistent."
Source: ITAR-TASS 25-11-2016
