Frank-Walther Steinmeier, German foreign minister
The negotiations between foreign ministers of the Normandy Four were difficult, but necessary and they mean a lot. The Red Cross representatives would really assist in exchanging POWs by the end of the year; however, the sides are still too far from political agreement, which would paver the way to holding the local elections in the region. Ukraine and Russia still can work on withdrawing their forces from four flashpoints across Donbas.
Jean-Marc Ayrault, French foreign minister
All the elements of Minsk agreemens should stay in place. There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done. Even that the dialogue is difficult, it goes on.
Sergei Lavrov, Russian foreign minister
No breakthrough was achieved today, although the participants of political process keep up to the agreements made on October 19 – which is a nice thing. So far, we can’t even agree on the consequence of steps that we need to take – first of all in the security and policy areas. I mean the law on the special status of the specific territories of Donbas, its inscription in the Constitution of Ukraine, the amnesty and holding the local elections.
