The most precise information after the second round of negotiations in the so-called Normandy format, in which Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine are trying to find a peace solution for the Donbass region, concerned the duration of the meeting on Friday.
A first round of talks took place in Paris a fortnight ago after a break of several years, where Jens Plötner and Emmanuel Bonne, the foreign policy advisors to Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Emmanuel Macron, met with the Russian Ukraine Commissioner Dmitry Kozak and the Ukrainian Presidential Advisor Andriy Jermak.
Johannes Leithauser
Political correspondent in Berlin.
Follow I follow
Michael Wiegel
Political correspondent based in Paris.
Follow I follow
Two weeks ago, after more than six hours, the group agreed on a succinct declaration that included, among other things, the obligation to continue to observe the ceasefire along the so-called contact line, which separates the separatists' areas from the rest of the Ukrainian state.
After the Berlin meeting on Thursday evening, it was only announced that it had lasted nine and a half hours.
The talks were "difficult", different positions, but also different "solution options" were clearly worked out.
However, all participants wanted to stick to the Minsk peace agreements of 2014/15 and continue to work on their full implementation.
"Difficult Conversations"
The agreements between Russia and Ukraine came about at that time with the mediation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Minsk and were later supplemented by the heads of state and government of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine with a schedule that Grant autonomous status to separatist areas but give Ukraine back control of its border with Russia.
Since then, the heads of state and government involved have discussed the details of the implementation of the Minsk agreements at summit meetings;
they last met for this purpose in 2019.
The OSCE monitoring mission, which is supposed to register violations along the line of contact between separatists and the regular Ukrainian army, only recently stated during a visit by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock to the region that even small agreements at the highest level had an impact on compliance with the ceasefire and the actual implementation Permeability of the confrontation line always has a positive effect.
In Paris, as in Berlin, it was said on Friday that the Normandy Round talks had been “difficult”.
A number of inconsistencies had been identified between the two main themes.
This also included the accompanying humanitarian measures such as the exchange of prisoners and the legislative process in Ukraine to implement the Minsk agreements.
The only positive signal noted was that the Russian negotiator Kozak was ready to discuss the substantive issues.
This has not always been the case in the long stalemate between the last Normandy-format summit in Paris in December 2019 and the most recent Sherpa-level meeting in Paris on January 26.
In Paris, it was noted that the Russian negotiator prevented a joint statement because he insisted on forcing the Ukrainian leadership to negotiate directly with the separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Therefore, the Sherpas would have separated without result.
The Elysee stressed that direct negotiations with separatists constituted a "red line" for the government in Kiev.
In Paris it was pointed out that the Minsk agreements clearly exclude the direct negotiations demanded by Moscow.
President Emmanuel Macron had already emphasized during his recent trip to Kiev that he fully supported President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on this point.
Discussions were only agreed via the trilateral contact group involving the OSCE.
Hopes were expressed in Paris that the trilateral contact group would meet in two weeks as planned.
After that there will be new consultations in the Normandy format.