MOSCOW – Russia’s attempts to revisit its role in the Normandy Format and the Trilateral Contact Group make the European Union concerned, EU Ambassador to Russia Markus Ederer said.
“We observe a recent development which causes concern. This is what I would describe as Russia’s attempts to revisit and possibly redefine its role in both the Normandy Four Format and the Trilateral Contact Group,” Ederer said in an interview with Interfax.
“The overall attitude of the Russian Federation’s delegation at the latest round of the presidential advisors’ talks in the Normandy Format in Berlin and then Dmitry Kozak’s recent letter to his counterpart in Germany are only some of the signs on the wall,” he said.
“From the very beginning […] Russia was a member of the Normandy Four and the Trilateral Contact Group as a party to the conflict in Eastern Ukraine,” he said. “I would say that this fact runs against the notion which we increasingly hear from our Russian partners that fighting in Donbas represents an internal conflict in Ukraine,” he said.
“Now, on July 31, [Russian] President’s spokesman [Dmitry] Peskov made a statement officially denying suggestions that Russia would quit the Normandy Four format. This statement, I believe, was important, timely and welcomed, because any remote suggestion that Russia would withdraw from its responsibilities in the Normandy Four format or the Trilateral Contact Group, or a “Rus-exit” from these formats would cause adverse effects for the dispute settlement process,” Ederer said.
Commenting on the recently adopted statement by the Ukrainian parliament that any special status for Donbas can be granted only after the Ukrainian authorities establish control over border with Russia, he said that “everybody should go back to and revisit the Minsk documents.” “They speak a very clear language, at least in some instances, on the sequence of steps,” he said.
