Negotiations started late due to late arrival of Putin.
In Berlin in the building of the Federal Chancellery of Germany began negotiations of the leaders of the Normandy format (Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia). Negotiations with participation of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and President of Russia Vladimir Putin started around 19.30 in Kiev.
In negotiations with the Ukrainian side in addition to Poroshenko also attended by the Minister of foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin and Deputy head of the presidential administration Konstantin Eliseev. On the Russian side, besides Putin’s participation the meeting was attended by foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov.
According to a source involved in the event, the negotiations Norman Quartet started late. “Negotiations started late. It was initially planned that the meeting will start at 19.00 (Kiev time), but because of the delay of the President of Russia had to postpone its beginning,” he said.
Before that there were talks between German Chancellor with the President of Ukraine. After held a private meeting with Poroshenko, Merkel and Hollande, who have coordinated their positions before the talks in the Normandy format.
As predicted, the press Secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov, today it is not necessary to wait for the completion of negotiations. “Until midnight, or rather,” he said.
The last time the leaders of the Normandy Quartet met in this format a year ago in Paris.
As reported Корреспондент.net, Poroshenko does not expect a significant breakthrough in today’s meeting.
