Expert assess prospects of holding the meeting in the “Norman format”

To hold the next meeting in the “Norman format”, Ukraine must fulfill the commitments it made at the Paris summit and do its homework, said a leading expert at the center for political conditions, Alexei Chesnakov.

President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky said at a press conference on Wednesday that France and Germany support the idea of ​​holding a meeting in the “Norman format” to resolve in the Donbass after the decline in the incidence of coronavirus.

“These statements are about nothing. Obviously, they support this, but for this, the commitments made by the Ukrainian side in Paris must first be fulfilled. Of course, when they are asked if you support the meeting in the Norman format after the completion of COVID-19 , they answer – of course, yes. When will this happen, in ten months? In 20 years? Ukraine must fulfill the obligations that it signed in Paris, then do its homework”, – Chesnakov said in the online format “Results first year of Vladimir Zelensky as president of Ukraine”.

At the first Normandy Four countries summit in three years, which was held in Paris on December 9, 2019, the parties adopted a joint communique and agreed to meet four months later in Berlin to continue work on resolving the situation in the Donbass. The communiqué emphasized that the Minsk agreements remain the basis for working in the “Norman format”, a separation of forces is envisaged by the end of March 2020 at three new locations in the Donbass. The leaders also called for a ceasefire in the Donbass by the end of the year.