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Photo: Office of the President
Ukraine supports new Normandy summit, but Russia is against
All the conditions stipulated by the agreement of the Normandy quartet leaders a year ago have been met, Mendel says.
Ukraine has met all the conditions of the Normandy format heads of state summit held on December 9, 2019 in Paris. Presidential press secretary Yulia Mendel said this on Tuesday, December 8, writes Ukrinform.
“It could have been done faster and faster, of course, if the situation depended exclusively on the Ukrainian side. However, despite media rumors that Russia was refusing to participate in the Normandy format, on December 7, during a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russia has confirmed their willingness to continue working in the Normandy format, “he said.
Mendel also noted that the Russian side speaks of “readiness for further cooperation within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.” In his opinion, this gives him some confidence and hope that peace will come to Donbas.
Mendel recalled that around 200 prisoners were returned in a year, they were illegally detained on the territory of ORDLO, in Russia and Crimea.
They also managed to reach an agreement on a ceasefire in Donbas, which has been in force since July 27.
“Yes, there are violations. There are several combat losses. But during the term of this agreement, real lives of people have been saved. In the same period a year ago, on average, every 72 hours, a Ukrainian soldier was killed. Now there are weeks, months without deaths and injuries. So, the period from July 27, 2020 to today cannot be compared with any other period of the war in Donbass in seven years. There has never been such a decrease in the intensity of the fire and such silence on such a length of the front, now, ” said the press secretary.
As you know, Kiev proposes to hold a meeting of the leaders of the Normandy format in December, but the Russian Federation does not see the point in this.
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