The Russian Foreign Ministry published on the website the correspondence of the head of the department, Sergei Lavrov, with the foreign ministers of France and Germany, Jean-Yves Le Drian and Heiko Maas. It concerns preparations for the Normandy format ministerial meeting on Donbass. Moscow explained the publication by the distortion of its position.
“Recently, the position of Russia, its role in the internal Ukrainian settlement and approaches to holding a possible ministerial meeting in the Normandy format have been distorted,” the ministry said in a statement.
In a letter dated November 16, Mr. Lavrov notified his colleagues of plans to publish the correspondence. He stated that this is necessary in conditions “when Russian approaches to internal Ukrainian settlement and the convening of a” Normandy “meeting are distorted.” “We have no choice but to take an unconventional step and publicize our correspondence with you. <...> I am sure that you will understand the need for such an unconventional step, since we are talking about the need to convey to the world community the truth about who and how fulfills international legal obligations taken at the highest level, ”the letter (.pdf) says. He reaffirmed his commitment to further cooperation within the Normandy format.
The correspondence presents the Russian draft of a joint statement of the Normandy format foreign ministers following the results of the planned meeting, as well as the version of the draft of France and Germany. Sergei Lavrov writes that he was disappointed with the response to the draft statement proposed by Moscow. It states, for example, that the proposed “organization of a direct dialogue between Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk” “will certainly not be accepted.” Berlin and Paris also said that the Russian draft contains “several points that go far beyond the prerogatives of the” Normandy format “and have little to do with the implementation of the Minsk agreements.”
According to the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, in the draft proposed by Germany and France, some points of the statement refer to the format of the Trilateral Contact Group. “All other security-related issues listed in your draft joint statement also fall within the competence of the TCG, but you formulate them in an imperative, imperative manner, virtually ignoring the need for coordination with Donetsk and Lugansk, enshrined in the Package of Measures,” wrote Mr. Lavrov …
Sergei Lavrov also said that Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron had assured Vladimir Putin in telephone conversations that they would deal with the issue of undermining the positions of the Russian language and the languages of other national minorities in Ukraine. They said that they would “specially deal with the appropriate impact on the Ukrainian president.” Mr. Lavrov said that the foreign ministers of France and Germany “completely ignored” this aspect of the draft statement.
Russia refused to hold a ministerial meeting of the Normandy Four on November 11 at the suggestion of France. Sergei Lavrov explained this by the fact that Moscow conveyed proposals to Paris, Berlin and Kiev on the content of the meeting, but there was no reaction to them. He also noted that he had already scheduled a meeting with a colleague from one of the friendly states for November 11.
About the negotiations of Russia with France and Germany – in the material of “Kommersant” “Two for two does not fall.”
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