New Normandy Format Summit May Be Held After Fulfillment Of Previous Decisions - Antonov

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th December, 2020) The next summit in the Normandy Four format - between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany - may be held only after the fulfillment of the decisions agreed during the 2019 Paris meeting, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said.

"Convening such a summit seems to be appropriate only after all the Paris decisions are implemented. Ukraine's attempts to organize a meeting of the leaders have no ground. Kiev should better focus on other things. To start with, stop criticizing the Minsk agreements. Avoid distorting the order in which its provisions are to be implemented," Antonov told reporters on late Thursday as quoted by the embassy's Facebook page.

He stressed that only two out of seven provisions of the agreements reached in Paris a year ago had been implemented: the prisoners' swap and the agreed measures on the ceasefire reinforcement. The other five measures have to be implemented yet, according to Antonov.

"One thing is already certain: the team of [Ukrainian President] V.A.Zelenskiy fails to create political environment that could contribute to a peaceful settlement of the intra-Ukrainian conflict in the South-East," the ambassador said.

He also called on the United States to support the 2015 Minsk agreement on the reconciliation of the conflict in Donbas.

Kiev launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed republic of Donetsk and Luhansk in 2014 after they refused to recognize the new Ukrainian government and proclaimed independence from the country.

A ceasefire deal between warring parties was signed in Minsk a year later following talks brokered by the leaders of the Normandy four states. Despite this agreement, however, sporadic fighting continues in Donbas.