OSCE Special Representative on TCG Hopes Normandy Four Meetings to Become Regular

VIENNA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th June, 2019) The Special Representative of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) head in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) Martin Sajdik welcomed on Tuesday in his comments to Sputnik the potential renewal of meetings in the so-called Normandy Four format on the conflict in the Ukrainian eastern region of Donbas and expressed hope that such consultations would be held on a regular basis.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last week that he had discussed the possibility of holding a Normandy Four meeting after the snap parliamentary elections in Ukraine on July 21 with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that a meeting at the level of advisers will be held on July 12 to pave the way for the top-level talks.

Sajdik welcomed the potential resumption of the Normandy Four talks and expressed hope that it would be a step toward a regular negotiating process.

Sajdik noted that unlike the Normandy Four, the TCG was holding regular meetings, adding that their schedule was determined until the beginning of the next year.

Donbas has been engaged in an armed conflict with Kiev since 2014. Both Donetsk and Luhansk self-proclaimed republics have refused to recognize the Ukrainian authorities that came to power that year as a result of what Donbas residents considered to be a coup.

The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine and the Normandy Four, comprising France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine, are platforms aimed at facilitating the settlement of the conflict.

The latest meeting in the Normandy Four format was held almost three years ago, in October 2016.