The foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France in a phone conversation on Friday made a decision to meet in person in Berlin, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said.
“I hung up after talking to my colleagues from Germany, France and Russia. The only achievement is that we have agreed to meet in person in Berlin. We continue working,” he said on Twitter.
Klimkin said later: “Normandy will come to Berlin again. We will meet there with the ministers on Jan. 12.”
A source in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry told Interfax-Ukraine that the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France may also meet in Astana next week. “If the foreign ministers reach certain agreements in Berlin on Jan. 12, everything is possible,” the source said.
On Dec. 29, 2014, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the next top-level meeting in the Normandy format on the settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine will be held in Astana on Jan. 15.
Sources in the EU said on Jan. 9 a meeting between the presidents in the “Normandy format” has not been confirmed yet.
The “Normandy format” of negotiations envisages the participation by representatives of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany.
