France and Germany on Thursday (November 18) accused Russia of violating diplomatic etiquette after Moscow announced their confidential communications about Ukraine, which is the latest sign of the deterioration of Moscow’s relations with the West.
On Wednesday, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued multiple diplomatic letters exchanged with Germany and France in an attempt to show that its position in the negotiations in eastern Ukraine was distorted.
“We believe that this practice violates diplomatic rules and customs,” French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anne-Claire Legende told reporters at a daily online briefing.
France and Germany stated that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov refused to hold the so-called Normandy meeting with the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Ukraine, but Russia stated that Lavrov was simply unable to attend certain meetings.
The outgoing German Chancellor Merkel downplayed the importance of Russia’s move, but said at a press conference that this did not change the fact that no meeting was held, which she regretted.
“The publication of the letter is not surprising. I often read my letter in the newspaper. Of course we have nothing to hide,” she said at a press conference on another matter.
But she added that she asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to arrange another round of talks before she leaves office. She said it was a shame that he did not do so, “because the meeting has its own motivation” to make progress even in seemingly tricky situations.
Paris earlier accused Russia of refusing to accept ministerial meetings with France, Ukraine and Germany to discuss the pro-Russian separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine, and denied failing to respond to Moscow’s proposals.
In a rare response, Russia published a 28-page diplomatic document indicating that it had stated in advance that Lavrov could not participate in the proposed November 11 meeting.
However, the published documents also show serious differences between Russia, France and Germany.
Russia has attached a draft statement on the “internal conflict in Ukraine”, which Russia proposes to issue after a possible Normandy format meeting.
The Normandy-style talks are designed to help end the conflict between the Kiev army and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
On November 4, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas stated in a joint letter to Lavrov that the Moscow draft contains assessments that Germany and France disagree with, such as depicting “Internal Conflict in Ukraine” and so on. .
Two European diplomats stated that the Moscow publication appeared to be an attempt to spread chaos, but it backfired because it proved that Moscow tried to stop the process by requiring many preconditions that would make the hope of holding a meeting impossible. .
Legendre called on Russia to return to the negotiating table and continue discussions, but in an “approved form and agreed principles.”
