MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th December, 2019) The chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Miroslav Lajcak, on Tuesday welcomed the results of the Normandy Four summit, held earlier this week in Paris, as an important contribution toward settling the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
On Monday, presidents of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine held talks in Paris to discuss the conflict in the eastern Ukrainian breakaway region of Donbas. This so-called Normandy Four format of talks on the Donbas conflict has been in hiatus for over three years since convening the last time in October 2016.
"I am very glad that the further steps provide for measures including a commitment to the ceasefire, de-mining, facilitating the exchange of detainees, creating new disengagement areas along the contact line, and opening new entry and exit points - concrete measures that were promoted by the Slovak OSCE Chair since the very beginning of this year," Lajcak was quoted as saying in an OSCE press release.
According to the press release, Lajcak believes that the agreements reached will be "an important contribution to the resolution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine" when implemented.
The OSCE chief also welcomed the agreement by the Normandy quartet to convene again in four months, the press release added.
The summit in Paris concluded in a joint communique in which the Normandy leaders confirmed their commitment to the Minsk agreements of 2014 and 2015. The communique is broken down to three rubrics, namely "Immediate measures to stabilize the situation in the conflict area," "Measures to implement the political provisions of the Minsk agreements," and "Follow up" steps. In concrete terms, it comes down to immediate ceasefire and exchange of all conflict-related prisoners by year-end, amendments to the Ukrainian constitution that would ensure special status to Donbas, and equidistant pull-out of forces by the end of coming March.
The conflict in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, known together as Donbas, began in 2014. These regions proclaimed independence after what they considered to be a coup in Kiev, and the Ukrainian government launched an offensive in retaliation. The Normandy format talks among the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine was established in June 2014 to promote peace in Donbas. Despite bringing about several important agreements, the format was halted since October 2016.
