MOSCOW – The Russian Foreign Ministry does not link the handover to Ukraine of the vessels detained by Russia following the incident in the Kerch Strait with the upcoming Normandy Format summit, the Russian Foreign Ministry told Interfax on Nov. 16.
The newspaper Kommersant said earlier citing informed sources that “the principled decision to return these ships was made” and that the parties are negotiating the date and exact time of their handover. According to the newspaper, “this issue must be resolved before the Normandy Four summit slated for Dec. 9.”
“The proposal initially made to Kyiv remained relevant all this time. They can do it any time,” the ministry said, adding that it should be done, as Moscow said,
“Under the guarantees that the ships are preserved as evidence.”
