Merkel and Hollande refused to come to Kyiv

During a trilateral meeting between the leaders of Germany, France and Ukraine scheduled for August 24 in Berlin, President Poroshenko will try to prepare Western partners for a possible change in Ukraine’s approach to the implementation of the Minsk agreements, Kommersant writes.

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The publication's source in the Ukrainian presidential administration said that the idea to hold a trilateral summit dedicated to the national holiday came from Petro Poroshenko.

“True, initially he expected to receive the leaders of France and Germany in Kyiv,” the newspaper notes. – Subsequently, however, adjustments had to be made to the plans. Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande refused to fly to Ukraine, proposing a compromise option - to meet in Berlin. “As a result, it was decided that on the morning of August 24, Petro Poroshenko will take part in festive events in Kyiv, and then go to the German capital.”

One of the Verkhovna Rada deputies representing the ruling coalition called the meeting without a representative of the Russian Federation a “diplomatic victory” for Ukraine and said that this “gives Poroshenko an additional chance to negotiate support with France and Germany behind Putin’s back,” the newspaper reports. At the same time, it was officially reported in both Germany and France that there is no talk of changing the Normandy format, and, according to Kommersant, during the Berlin negotiations Poroshenko will try to “prepare European partners for a possible change in the Ukrainian approach to the implementation of the Minsk agreements in that part where we are talking about decentralization and local elections.”

“Poroshenko will warn Western partners that problems may arise with the adoption of the presidential draft of amendments to the constitution providing for decentralization,” a Verkhovna Rada deputy who is well acquainted with the situation told the publication, according to whom, the constitutional majority of 300 votes required to approve the document in the second reading , not dialing.

In addition, according to sources in Kiev, the presidential team has a backup plan of action ready if the Rada, having gathered for an extraordinary meeting, rejects the constitutional reform, the essence of which is the actual separation from Ukraine of the part of Donbass not controlled by Kiev and the cessation of any economic and political relations.

Some provisions of this plan were communicated to the public “by the method of information stuffing,” as one of the publication’s interlocutors put it, who clarified that such stuffing was an interview given to the Novoye Vremya magazine by ex-President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk.

Also in Berlin, Kyiv will try to probe a change in the future negotiating format by including new participants in the four, “more willing to listen to Ukrainian arguments.”

However, Kommersant’s source in one of the EU countries doubts that Merkel and Hollande will want to delve into the topic of changing negotiation formats. “It would be unethical and unreasonable to resolve such issues behind Vladimir Putin’s back,” says the publication’s interlocutor. “If we want Moscow to play a constructive role in the Ukrainian settlement in the future, we should not give it unpleasant surprises and impose not very comfortable interlocutors.”