Normandy Quartet Not Clear About the Deployment of Peacekeepers Yet

• 04.15.2015, 12:16
•  Europe,  EEU,  World

 The meeting of the Normandy Four Foreign Ministers from France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine took place on Monday in Berlin. The aim of the meeting was to review the Minsk ceasefire agreement which has generally been holding up. The four countries gathered to estimate the progress connected with the peace deal, reached in the Belarusian capital on February 12. The Foreign Ministers of the Normandy Four group have reaffirmed their adherence to the Ukraine peace agreements and discussed both the existing progress and the further steps required to provide a long-standing ceasefire. After the meeting Sergey Lavrov told the journalists that the main part of the discussions was about the creation of working groups for reaching a ceasefire. According to the Minister, such groups would focus on "specific areas of settlement, which would include "military questions, security questions, questions regarding the economic reconstruction of Donbas, humanitarian questions, and questions on political reform."

 Lavrov also mentioned that their main task is to fully implement ceasefire and conclude the removal of heavy weapon. Among those weapons which should be removed are not only mortars and heavy weapons below 100mm, but also tanks. It was also highlighted that there is a need for the Minsk agreements to be observed in its full capacity. Meanwhile,  German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the journalists that there is "no alternative" to the Minsk ceasefire agreement in solving the Ukrainian crisis. He also added that the "differences of opinion between Kiev and Moscow also became clear once again".  

During the meeting issues of sending peacekeepers to Ukraine were not elaborated. "Our Ukrainian colleague mentioned the idea of sending peacekeepers, but it was not elaborated upon and other colleagues did not comment on it," - Lavrov told journalists after the Monday talks.

Formerly, the Ukrainian government asked the UN Security Council and the EU Council to establish an international peacekeeping operation in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in southeastern Ukraine. Notwithstanding, Foreign Ministers of Normandy Quartet have reaffirmed their commitment to the peace agreements on Ukraine, which was signed in Minsk in February. According to Lavrov the conclusions made by the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, France and the German Chancellor would be agreed upon without problems.

The question of deploying peacekeeping forces in Donbas has been one of the most discussed topics of the last months. However, there is still no final decision, as there is no consensus among the parties on this issue. The proof of this was the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Normandy Four. Nevertheless, it is believed that the Normandy Four format discussions will continue to develop and make progress and would soon have a "concrete result."