Political advisers to the presidents of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany — known as the Normandy Four — have reached little progress at yet another meeting on Sept. 11 in Berlin.
The delegations discussed steps to execute the agreement the countries’ leaders signed at the Normandy format summit in Paris in December. The document aimed to bring peace to the Donbas, where Russia’s ongoing war has killed over 13,000 people since 2014.
However, after seven hours of negotiations, the format achieved no visible progress, offering equivocal statements to the public afterward.
According to Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, who took part in the talks, the most important outcome is the decision to continue the current cease-fire.
Since Ukraine and Kremlin-backed militants agreed to hold back the fires on July 27, there has been one combat-related casualty. Over the six weeks of the official cease-fire, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has detected hundreds of cease-fire violations in the region.
According to Zelensky’s presidential office, the advisers to the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France will meet to continue negotiations in the upcoming weeks.
Next summit
Before the Berlin meeting, the Ukrainian side planned to discuss the possibility of holding another Normandy format summit bringing together the leaders of the Normandy Four.
After negotiations, Yermak said he is certain that another summit will take place at some point and he hopes it will happen by the end of the year.
“Everything indicates that the process is moving forward,” he said while talking to the press.
However, Dmitry Kozak, deputy head of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s administration, said that the negotiators didn’t discuss holding another summit. Furthermore, he said there is no ground for the leaders of Normandy Four to meet.
October local elections
Another contradiction occurred in the statements of the Ukrainian and Russian sides regarding the upcoming local elections in Ukraine.
Earlier in July, the Ukrainian parliament has scheduled local elections on the government-controlled territory for Oct. 25.
The elections on territories occupied by Russia, including Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, will take place only if all illegal military formations there disarm and Ukraine restores control over its eastern border with Russia. This doesn’t agree with Russia, whose representatives have made it clear that the Kremlin prefers the election to take place while the joint Russian-militant formations still control the area.
After the Berlin meeting on Sept. 11, Russia’s Kozak appeared to say that Ukraine caved into this demand. Kozak said that the negotiators agreed that the Ukrainian parliament will consider “correcting” the decree it passed regarding the elections.
However, Yermak didn’t back Kozak’s statement.
Zelensky’s chief of staff said that he thinks what Kozak meant was that there existed such a draft decree proposing amendments regarding the election, that it had been registered in the parliament, and will be considered in due course.
The only decree suggesting amendments to the parliament’s decision on elections has been introduced by the lawmakers of the pro-Russian Opposition Platform — For Life faction on Sept. 2. The document suggests expanding the area for elections by adding Ukrainian-controlled front-line cities and towns. Those were previously left out of the election as they will be controlled by the so-called “military administrations.” The pro-Russian party, popular in these regions, protests the decision that potentially prevents them from taking control of the front-line cities.
It’s not clear whether Yermak indeed was referring to this decree.
Ukraine considered holding elections on the occupied territories after Zelesky agreed to the so-called Steinmeier Formula, named after German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in October.
The plan is supposed to expand self-governance of the occupied parts of Donbas in return for holding local elections under the Ukrainian law.
However, after the Normandy Four supported the formula during the summit in Paris, Russia stepped backwards: The aggressor demanded from Ukraine to bring constitutional changes granting Donbas a special self-governing status. Russia also stated that the Ukrainian border will only be restored after the elections have been held.
