KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th December, 2019) The issue of Crimea was not discussed during the Normandy Four summit held in Paris on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's press secretary, Iuliia Mendel told journalists.
"It is not currently planned," Mendel said when asked about a possible discussion on Crimea.
The Monday summit in Paris was the first Normandy talks since October 2016. Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and French President Emmanuel Macron participated in the talks.
Putin and Zelenskyy then started one-on-one talks. This is the first time that Zelenskyy and Putin are meeting face-to-face.
The Normandy Four format was established in June 2014 to mediate the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which started when the people of Ukraine's southeastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions refused to recognize the new Ukrainian government, saying it came to power as a result of a coup. Kiev then launched a military operation in the southeast.
Crimea rejoined Russia in 2014, after a referendum determined that 96 percent of the peninsula's voters were in favor of reunification. Despite the vote, Kiev and the majority of Western countries refused to recognize Crimea's reunification with Russia.
