It seems that during the G20 summit, which was held on September 4-5 in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, Russia has failed to put an end to Normandy format. A month ago it was planned that the Heads of State meeting in Normandy format would take place within the summit. That was spoken by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Baku on August 8. However, two days later, Russian President Vladimir Putin, having accused Ukraine of alleged “terror” on the Crimean peninsula, said that in such circumstances he could not see the point in a Normandy format meeting, especially in China. The last time the leaders of the Normandy Four had met to discuss the implementation of the Minsk agreements was October past year in Paris.
However, it is known that the Kremlin’s chief had wanted to meet the leaders of France and Germany in a narrower format to discuss the Ukrainian issue behind the back of Ukraine. However, neither Merkel nor Hollande agreed to that format. Each of them had a personal meeting with Putin, stressing the importance of Normandy format’s reinstatement.
In particular, the French president wrote on Facebook after meeting the Russian leader yesterday: “We agreed to organize in the next few weeks a summit between Germany, France, Russia, and Ukraine.” Hollande emphasized that the Ukrainian issue consists of further implementation of the Minsk process, of improving the security situation in the Donbas, and of fostering trust between the conflicting parties.
According to dpa, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had a “very specific” two-hour conversation with Putin about the situation in eastern Ukraine, and about the continuation of the Minsk process.
Yesterday, during an hour-and-a-half meeting, which took more time than was originally accounted for, US President Barack Obama discussed Syria and Ukraine with Putin. This was reported by Dmitry Peskov, the Russian president’s press secretary, to Interfax. According to him, Russia is still undecided on the issue of their possible participation in a Normandy format summit. Being asked about the possibility of such a meeting, Peskov said: “There is still a lot of work to do before we can finally decide on that.”
Meanwhile, the US side did not comment on the results of this recent meeting between the two leaders within the G20.
Among all the talks between the world leaders, held in Hangzhou, the most positive for Ukraine was Obama’s statement during a press conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May. He said that the two countries are allies in NATO and they “see the world the same way and continue to oppose the Russian aggression in Ukraine.”
COMMENTARIES
Oleksii MAKEIEV, director, Policy and Communications department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Kyiv:
“Evaluating the summit’s results and talks with the Russian leader in particular would be possible after we meet with our colleagues and when they tell us about the agreements that took place there. We cannot comment on what has been given to the press, or what has been published in the media. We need to know the subject of negotiations; mere statements would not be enough to make a resolution.
“I can only note that Normandy format is the only format for settling the Ukrainian-Russian conflict. And the Ukrainian side has always insisted on the importance of this format and that meetings in this format at the level of foreign ministers or presidents should contribute to the final solution of the conflict and to stopping the Russian aggression. Of course, any meeting in Normandy format and its results should help curb Russian aggression. Thus, the Ukrainian side is ready to participate in such meetings, focused precisely on this result.”
Roland FREUDENSTEIN, Deputy Director, Wilfried Martens Center, Brussels:
“I think nothing really moves forward in the Normandy format. Hollande can say what he wants but Putin has, through his summer theatre, made clear that there will be no Russian cooperation. China got some warnings on its territorial expansion in the South China Sea, but it won’t change course. And Britain got warnings from China and Japan about Brexit (arguing for a ‘soft Brexit’) – and we’ll see whether that made any impression on her and the Tories. Not much new at this summit!
“I don’t know the details but, to me, it looks like a classical Kremlin smoke screen. They say they’re willing to talk but in fact they’re not going to do anything. That’s my reading of the situation, based on past experience. But I’m willing to be surprised.”
Andreas UMLAND, German political scientist; senior research fellow, Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation in Kyiv:
“Summits such as these are often predetermined by their preparation and earlier developments. The signals before were not encouraging and the expectations were thus low. Tangible success will only be achieved when a major policy priorities shift occurs in Moscow. For that, it would need much more economic pressure from the West on Russia, in advance of negotiations. Once the political risks of further economic decline will be larger than the domestic political gains from symbolic successes in Ukraine and Syria, Moscow will start searching for face-saving ways out of its military engagement in the Donets Basin and Syrian civil war. The continuously large EU imports of Russian oil look, against the background of the enormous costs and risks of the Russian military interventions in Ukraine and Syria to the EU, inconsistent, if not bizarre. In view of the large share of oil export revenues in Russia’s state budget, the EU is indirectly co-financing Russia’s various hard and soft power policies designed to undermine the West. As long as the EU does not start soberly discussing and defining its interests vis-a-vis Russia, this absurd situation will continue – whatever diplomatic efforts Germany, the US, France or other players will make.”
