Putin Says Unaware Of Normandy Four Meeting On Donbas Settlement In France In June

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he was unaware of a planned Normandy Four-format meeting on Donbas crisis settlement, allegedly scheduled for June, stressing that his agenda did not include this

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th April, 2019) Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he was unaware of a planned Normandy Four-format meeting on Donbas crisis settlement, allegedly scheduled for June, stressing that his agenda did not include this.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said last Friday, ahead of the Ukrainian presidential runoff, scheduled for April 21, that a top-level meeting in the so-called Normandy Four format, comprising France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine, was likely to be held in France in June.

"I know nothing about this. No one has discussed this with us, and this is not included in my working agenda," Putin said, when asked to comment on Poroshenko's announcement.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sputnik on April 12 that Putin did not plan to visit France in June to participate in events dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Normandy landings.

The conflict in Donbas started in 2014, when Kiev launched a military operation against self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics after they refused to recognize the new government in Kiev that came to power after what they considered to be a coup. In February 2015, the warring parties signed, under the mediation of the Normandy Four, the Minsk peace accords to end the hostilities in the region, but the situation has remained tense, with both parties accusing each other of ceasefire violations.