Released by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday (November 17) It exchanged some diplomatic letters with Germany and France Trying to show that its diplomatic position in the negotiations in eastern Ukraine has been distorted.
Ukraine and Russia have been enemies since 2014, when Moscow occupied Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and supported the rebellion in the east. The main battle ended in 2015 with the ceasefire agreement reached in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, but sporadic conflicts still often result in the deaths of civilians, Ukrainian soldiers and separatists.
Due to reports of Russia’s military buildup near the Ukrainian border, tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine have recently increased. Russia rejected such allegations, saying that it did not pose a threat and could mobilize troops on its territory when it deems it necessary.
On November 9, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Russia refused to accept the ministerial meeting with France, Ukraine and Germany to discuss the conflict in eastern Ukraine, and denied that it had failed to respond to Moscow’s proposals.
In a rare response, Russia published 28 pages of diplomatic documents, Indicating that it had stated in advance that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov could not participate in the proposed November 11 meeting.
In the first letter dated October 29, Lavrov told his German and French colleagues that it is possible to continue the meeting under the so-called Normandy model.
Russia has attached a draft statement on the “internal conflict in Ukraine”, which Russia proposes to issue after a possible Normandy format meeting.
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 “Ukraine internal conflict” and so on. .
European diplomats said they “look forward to meeting in person on November 11.”
Two days later, Lavrov replied that he was disappointed in their response to the Russian proposal. Lavrov said that when he met in Rome on October 30, he informed Le Drian that he had formulated other work plans for November 11.
