Moscow - Meetings of the contact group on Ukraine could be alternated with meetings in other international formats on the settlement of the situation in Donbas, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said.
“Obviously, we need to combine the work of the contact group with possible international formats, in which we are ready to participate,” he told reporters. His comments were made at the request of Interfax about the statement by Petro Poroshenko’s press service, saying that he has reached an agreement with Western representatives about the need to hold a meeting in the Geneva format involving the U.S., the EU, Ukraine and Russia.
At the same time, Karasin said there is currently no agreement on specific dates of the meeting of the Geneva format participants.
Karasin recalled that Russia has said on more than one occasion that it is ready to take part in any international formats that will promote the Ukrainian settlement process.
“What are the minuses of the Geneva format and the Normandy format? Representatives of Donetsk and Luhansk are not represented there. What are the advantages of the contact group? The advantage of the contact group is that representatives of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics come to the meeting and resolve specific issues relating to the situation ‘on the ground,'” the Russian diplomat said.
“After contact group meetings, people normally start breathing more calmly and they stop fearing tomorrow,” he said.
