Normandy quartet talks again come to nothing

At another meeting of the TCG, the political advisers of the Normandy quartet leaders reiterated their aspiration to observe the ceasefire in Donbass

On the occasion of the meeting, the Ukrainian delegation issued a kind of “release” stating that all sides were in favour of maintaining the ceasefire.

“The main issue of the meeting of the Normandy quartet political advisors was to discuss the practical steps needed to observe the full and comprehensive ceasefire”, –  the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG on settling the situation in Donbas said in a release.

However, the aggressor country is in no hurry to take real steps.

According to a TASS source close to the negotiations, Russia’s concrete proposals on a mechanism to prevent the escalation of the shootings, as well as on ways to bring the perpetrators to justice, “have been met with obstruction from Ukraine.”

“The representatives of Germany and France, instead of concrete solutions, offered an unprompted declarative political statement of commitment to a ceasefire in the style of, as [deputy head of the Russian presidential administration Dmitry] Kozak said at the talks, ‘we are for all good and against all bad'”, –  the source said.

The three-hour-long talks ended inconclusively, and it is unlikely that there will be any movement at the next meeting.
According to the source, “the positions of France, Germany and Ukraine show a clear desire to imitate and further delay the negotiation process, even at the cost of casualties and destruction in Donbas” on both sides of the contact line.