MINSK, 29 November (BelTA) – The talks of the Normandy Four foreign ministers were difficult, German Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters, TASS reports.
He said that the parties are still far from a political agreement that would pave the way for local elections in the region. They have toughened their positions on Ukraine, but France and Germany will try to push for the implementation of the Minsk agreements.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier also expressed hope that with the progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements, changes may occur in the situation with the sanctions against Russia.
As was reported, Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov, Pavlo Klimkin, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Jean-Marc Ayrault gathered in Minsk to participate in the talks. Attending were also OSCE's special representative in the trilateral contact group on Ukraine Martin Sajdik, Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine Ertugrul Apakan, and OSCE SMM Principal Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug.
The agreement to hold the meeting of the Normandy Four foreign ministers in November was reached by the Normandy Four presidents: Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko during a meeting in Berlin on 19 October.
