Germany and France insist on maintaining ‘Normandy format’ talks after elections in Ukraine
Germany and France insisted on the G-7 group countries to continue their mediating efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Berlin and Paris consider it necessary to continue negotiations in the Normandy format regarding the future of eastern Ukraine, said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas during the consultations of the foreign ministers of the leading industrial countries which took place in Dinard, France, on Saturday, April 6.
Maas said that both Germany and France hope for further negotiations with Russia and Ukraine in the Normandy format after the presidential elections in Ukraine. Germany and France have been unsuccessful in mediation to resolving conflict in Ukraine since 2014. Four countries dialogue including Moscow and Kyiv’s participation is called negotiations in the Normandy format, named after the place of the first meeting.
Ukraine and Russia’s relations remain strained because of the Russian annexation of the Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine between the Ukrainian army and the pro-Russian militants. The second round of the presidential election in Ukraine is scheduled for April 21, when the incumbent president Petro Poroshenko will compete with the winner of the first round, showman Vladimir Zelensky.