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1st LD Writethru: Four-way talks on Ukraine begin in Minsk

Xinhua, February 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

Quartet negotiations have begun here on Wednesday evening in a hope to peacefully settle the ten-month Ukraine crisis, local media reported.

The talks involve French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Latest media reports said that foreign ministers of the four countries have joined the heads of states for an enlarged " Normandy Format" negotiations, with no detailed content having yet come out.

According to Interfax news agency, Merkel, Hollande and Poroshenko have talked for a while before the four-way meeting officially started.

During an earlier meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Ukrainian President Poroshenko said that the situation in eastern Ukraine would "practically get out of control" if the ( quartet) meeting ended without a de-escalation of the conflict, a ceasefire as well as the weapon withdrawal. Endite