The Russian Foreign Ministry published correspondence between the head of the diplomatic department Sergei Lavrov and the foreign ministers of France and Germany on the topic of the meeting in the Normandy format and resolving the crisis in Donbass.
As a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, based on the documents, it follows that Russia demands from the participating countries the format for implementing the Minsk Agreements and calls for direct dialogue with the DPR and LPR. Lavrov also criticizes Kyiv’s policies aimed at discriminating against the Russian-speaking population and the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of laws that run counter to the agreements.
At the same time, the foreign ministers of Germany and France say that they do not agree with Russia’s assessments, especially regarding direct dialogue with the LDPR and Russia’s role in resolving the conflict.
“Recently, Russia’s position, its role in the internal Ukrainian settlement and approaches to holding a possible ministerial meeting in the Normandy format have been distorted. To prevent further speculation, the Russian Foreign Ministry decided to make the primary sources public and publish the diplomatic correspondence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation S.V. Lavrov with the heads of the foreign affairs departments of Germany and France H. Maas and J.-I. Le Drian,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
According to Russian international political scientist Fyodor Lukyanov, the publication of correspondence with foreign diplomats is an unprecedented phenomenon for the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“The bastion has fallen. The Russian Foreign Ministry, which is very conservative in its adherence to classical diplomatic practices, published its part of recent correspondence with the ministries of France and Germany on the Ukrainian issue. The goal is to dispel insinuations and prevent Russia’s position from being distorted. But still. Previously, our ivory tower doors did not open slightly, although in other countries leaks in various forms have become the norm. Now we have openness too. New times,” Lavrov writes in his blog.
According to Ukrainian political scientist Vasily Vakarov, the publication of correspondence from the Russian Foreign Ministry indicates that there is no more trust between the countries, and the Normandy format is buried.
“France and Germany are parties to the conflict in Ukraine! This “answer” arrived today from the Russian Foreign Ministry. By publishing (on the official website) the diplomatic correspondence of Minister Lavrov with his colleagues from France and Germany, he “opened the envelope.” In other words, Russia accused Germany and France of insincerity and hypocrisy. From now on, there is no trust between France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia in H4! A confrontation began. This means that the “Normandy Format” is buried! One of these days, most likely, we will see “minutes of the TCG meetings,” and in different interpretations,” Vakarov believes.
And Russian political scientist Alexei Chesnakov notes that Russia’s consent to a meeting in the “Normandy format” without Ukraine’s compliance with the agreements will not lead to anything good, but will only encourage Kyiv to continue to violate the “Minsk agreements.”
“For the Western participants of the quartet, only the fact of the meeting is important, which allows them to declare that “the negotiation process is alive and has a certain dynamics.” Zelensky just needs to show that he knows how to “bend” the other participants in his own interests. The consent of the Russian side to such a meaningless protocol meeting will mean that Kyiv can safely not comply with any agreements in the future. The Ukrainian side will undoubtedly perceive the readiness to compromise on such issues as encouragement and encouragement to maintain its tactics in a situation of positional bargaining,” Chesnakov is convinced.