MINSK, 29 November (BelTA) – Martin Sajdik, the special representative of the OSCE chairperson-in-office in the trilateral contact group on resolving the situation in Ukraine's Donbass area, expects that progress will be secured within the framework of the trilateral contact group on Ukraine after the four-way meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs of Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany in Minsk on 29 November, BelTA has learned.
In particular, Martin Sajdik said he expects that a number of humanitarian issues will be resolved and that humanitarian problems will be high on the agenda of the next meeting of the trilateral contact group on Ukraine in Minsk. “It is very important and all of us understand it,” he said. “Efforts must be channeled into resolving humanitarian issues. The understanding that these issues need to be addressed and that ministers talk about them is important.”
The OSCE special representative also believes it is important to secure progress in the release of prisoners of war.
BelTA reported earlier that the ministers of foreign affairs of Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and France (the Normandy Four) met in the President Hotel in Minsk on 29 November. Sergei Lavrov, Pavlo Klimkin, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Jean-Marc Ayrault came to Minsk to participate in the talks. Martin Sajdik, the special representative of the OSCE chairperson-in-office in the trilateral contact group on resolving the situation in Ukraine's Donbass area, was also present at the site as well as chief monitor of the OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine Ertugrul Apakan and his deputy Alexander Hug.
During the meeting in Berlin on 19 October Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko agreed to arrange a meeting of the Normandy Four ministers of foreign affairs by late November.
