Lavrov: Russia Waiting For Partners Response To Its Proposals On Normandy-Format Meeting

Russia has conveyed to the partners its proposals on the agenda for another Normandy-format meeting and is waiting for their response, Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the Moscow.Kremlin.Putin program on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

"We think that any meeting has sense not as such but when it has some substantive agenda. We have referred our proposals on how to prepare a contact in the Normandy format substantively, regardless of the level, to our partners and are waiting for their response. because when they say ‘we need to meet as soon as possible’ they have not yet conveyed their vision of the expected results," he said, when asked whether Russia sees any point in organizing another Normandy-format summit.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on October 13 that Moscow would continue its mediatory efforts in the Normandy format and in the Contact Group on settling the conflict in Donbass. She said the issue of a ministerial meeting in the Normandy format was being looked at following a corresponding instruction of the Russian, French and German leaders after their telephone talks on October 11.

On Monday, German Ambassador to Russia Geza Andreas von Geyr told reporters that preparations were underway for a Normandy Four foreign ministers meeting but no date had been agreed yet.