Regarding the possible participation of the United States in the Normandy format, the ministry noted that the platform has already been formed and has been operating for the eighth year. “As far as we know, our co-mediators – Germany and France – would prefer to keep it in the form in which it exists,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The Minsk agreements were signed by Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany (the Normandy Four) in 2015. The agreements are aimed at resolving the conflict in the Donbass and provide for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weapons, the exchange of prisoners between Ukraine and the DPR with the LPR, the decentralization of power in the Donbass and the holding of local elections there.
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Kiev has repeatedly proposed to revise the Minsk agreements, calling the terms of the agreements impracticable. In particular, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that Plan B could be implemented. He explained that it was about a format “more global than Normandy” and the possible involvement of “serious players” – the European Union and the United States – in consolidating new agreements.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in turn, said that the current Ukrainian authorities “simply have no desire to implement the Minsk agreements.” According to Lavrov, Kiev is obliged to “thoroughly” fulfill these agreements and it cannot have any plan B.