German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken held talks in Berlin.
“We talked about Ukraine, about negotiations in a quadrilateral format to resolve the conflict in the east. Obviously, no one can be satisfied with the status quo, the Minsk agreements must be implemented, and we need a new dynamo in the Normandy format”, Maas said at a press conference.
He also noted that work is now underway to create conditions for holding meetings of Foreign Ministers of the “Normandy Four”. In addition, Maas allowed the United States to participate in these negotiations.
Blinken, in turn, stated his fears that Russia would allegedly use the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline as a “weapon” against Ukraine.
“Our goal remains to make sure that Russia cannot use energy as a means of coercion, as a weapon against Ukraine or anyone in Europe. I am grateful to Germany for working in this direction”, Blinken said.
Nord Stream-2 envisages the construction of two directions of a gas pipeline with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea to Germany. Washington actively opposes the completion of the project, as it wants to supply its own liquefied gas to Europe.