Merkel's plans for negotiations on Ukraine at G20 summit will not include Poroshenko
German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that she hoped to discuss Ukrainian and Syrian issues as well as the refugees’ problems in the course of bilateral negotiations during the G20 summit in China, as indicated in a video message on Saturday.
The German Chancellor noted that she hoped for a dialogue "about how to proceed with the Ukrainian question." However, she did not specify whom she plans to negotiate about Ukraine with, the Voice of America reports.
Earlier, the Kremlin announced the planned meetings of Russian President Putin with German Chancellor Merkel and French President Hollande during the summit in China. According to recent reports, Putin will meet with French and German leaders separately, although initially a single trilateral meeting was announced, with the discussion of the situation in Ukraine as one of its main issues.
Kiev condemned the plans to discuss the situation in Ukraine without the participation of its officials. It was suggested that President Petro Poroshenko should participate in all meetings. International observers called the Kremlin-proposed format of communication with Germany and France regarding Ukraine a "Normandy format minus Poroshenko" and called on Merkel and Hollande to decline to meet with Putin.
On August 23, the Kremlin press service reported that Putin, Merkel and Hollande would meet to discuss the Ukrainian issue at the G20 summit, which will be held on September 4-5.
Before that, Putin had used the allegations of "Crimean saboteurs" in order to refuse to negotiate in the Normandy format which involves not only Merkel and Hollande, but also the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.
It was assumed that a meeting of all leaders of the Normandy Four would be held during the G20 summit.
On September 1st, French President Hollande and German Chancellor Merkel issued a joint statement regarding the changes in the situation in eastern Ukraine. The leaders reaffirmed their readiness to work with Ukraine and Russia in the framework of the "Normandy format."