Hubert Vedrine, former foreign minister of France, believes the Normandy Format of talks between Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine on how to end the Ukrainian crisis needs to be revamped
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2019) Hubert Vedrine, former foreign minister of France, believes the Normandy Format of talks between Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine on how to end the Ukrainian crisis needs to be revamped.
"I think that it's a very useful format, and we don't have many others, so we need to continue. It's not an ideal solution, because it has not succeeded yet, but I think that we should not abandon it. We even need to relaunch it," he said.
The former top diplomat said it was "absurd" that ties between Russia and the West were worse than during most of the Cold War as the rivals were still able to hold summits and agree arms reduction treaties.
"Now we have a situation of blockage, sanctions, lack of communication and we have to end it," Vedrine said in a lecture he delivered at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.
The Normandy Format goes back to October 2015 when Russian, French, German and Ukrainian leaders met in France to assess progress in stopping hostilities in Ukraine's east. The four-way talks have been held several times, but the conflict has continued to claim lives. The death toll has passed 10,000.
