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Date of Normandy Four summit to be set after disengagement in two areas, says Kremlin aide

02 October 2019 13:00 (UTC +04:00)

The date of the Normandy Four summit may be set only after the forces are withdrawn from two earlier agreed sites on the Donbass contact line, Russian Presidential Aide Vladislav Surkov said, commenting on the recent meeting of the Contact Group, APA reports citing TASS.

"The final coordination of the date of the Normandy Four’s summit will take place only after the disengagement of forces in Petrovskoye and Zolotoye is completed and confirmed," Surkov said. "In the normal course of events, this will take nearly two weeks."

Besides, foreign ministers could hold a preliminary meeting, Surkov noted. "After that all conditions needed for holding the leaders’ meeting will really be fulfilled."

At the meeting in Minsk on Tuesday, the Contact Group’s members agreed on the Steinmeier formula on granting a special status to Donbass and on withdrawing troops from two areas on the contact line, namely in Petrovskoye and Zolotoye. Russia insisted that this was the prerequisite for discussing the preparations for a new Normandy Four summit.