Minsk agreements cannot be implemented without normal work of OSCE mission - Maas

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said this before a videoconference of the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"We now need clear commitment on the part of Russia and Ukraine whose role is to implement the Minsk agreements. In our view, part of this should be for the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to be able to carry out its work throughout Ukraine - without any restrictions and obstacles. The agreements cannot be implemented without an objective evaluation of the Special Monitoring Mission," Maas said.

Mutual distrust is too great, he said.

"Russia also knows this, and it must exert its influence on separatists," he said.

Germany worked with France so that "the Normandy Format could create an atmosphere for a conversation that can be counted on," Maas said.

The current task of the Normandy Four in the current conditions is to ease the situation of people in Donbas, he said.

The coronavirus pandemic greatly affects people in eastern Ukraine, especially the vulnerable older population due to the closure of the contact line. Format participants are working to achieve rapid humanitarian progress in this crisis. Therefore, the issue of opening checkpoints on the contact line will be raised during the videoconference. These steps would bring real relief to people in eastern Ukraine, Maas said.

He reiterated his readiness to implement the decisions taken by the leaders of the Normandy Four countries in Paris last December and on which progress has already been made in terms of the exchange of prisoners.

"If we succeeded there, we can make progress in other areas, too," the minister said.

With today's virtual meeting between the foreign ministers of the Normandy Four countries, Maas wants to give a clear political mandate so that the implementation of the agreements in the Trilateral Contact Group could continue.

Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group, Ambassador Heidi Grau will participate in the videoconference of the foreign ministers of the Normandy Four countries on April 30.

The online meeting will start in the afternoon.

The last meeting of the leaders of the Normandy Four countries took place on December 9, 2019. Back then, at the summit in Paris, Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron of France, Vladimir Putin of Russia, as well as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, agreed on a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, but Russian-controlled militants repeatedly violated the truce.

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