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"Normandy Four" meeting on Ukraine calls for de-escalation of violence

Xinhua, April 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine, the so-called Normandy Four, Tuesday called upon the parties involved in the Ukrainian crisis to quickly de-escalate the violence.

They urged the parties involved to withdraw heavy weapons from conflict regions, and supported international monitors and the establishment of working groups.

The foreign ministers of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine made the remarks early Tuesday after having met for hours Monday evening to discuss the way ahead on the ceasefire and the political process to implement the Minsk Agreements in their entirety.

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers expressed their "grave concern" at the renewed violence, a fresh outbreak of fighting in eastern Ukraine, calling on all sides to stop fighting and conclude the withdrawal of heavy weapons.

They called for the withdrawal of mortars, all types of tanks and heavy weapons below 100 mm.

The top diplomats also expressed support of the efforts of the observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to ease the tension in eastern Ukraine.

"We reiterate our call on the sides to establish permanent and unfettered access to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to implement its mandate and the Minsk Agreements," the statement said.

Also, they urged establishing working groups within the Trilateral Contact Group, which includes representatives from the OSCE, Russia and Ukraine, as well as the independence-seeking insurgents in eastern Ukraine.

"We agree that the four working groups on security, political process, humanitarian issues, and economic affairs and rehabilitation must be launched as soon as possible," the statement said.

Monday's talk is the fourth meeting of the Normandy Four foreign ministers held in Berlin over Ukraine. Swiss diplomat and the OSCE's envoy to the Trilateral Contact Group, Heidi Tagliavini, and head of the OSCE's Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, ambassador Ertugrul Apakan, also participated in the talks. Endi