KIEV (Sputnik) — Kiev is supporting the idea of US President Barack Obama joining the talks on Ukrainian reconciliation in the 'Normandy format," deputy head of Ukraine president's administration, Valeriy Chaly, said Thursday.
"We stand for US being part of the talks, considering that Washington has been practically part of the process all along," Chaly said in an interview with Ukraine's Channel Five television.
The Normandy Quartet, which has brokered the Minsk peace accords between Kiev and the self-proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk people's republics, comprises Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine.
The four countries have taken part in several rounds of talks on Ukraine reconciliation. The most recent negotiations took place in February in Minsk, Belarus, and resulted in a 13-point agreement to de-escalate the year-long conflict in Ukraine's southeastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.
In addition, the document obligates Kiev authorities to engage in direct dialogue with the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, in particular, on the issue of local elections in the regions and on changes to the Ukrainian Constitution, including decentralization of power and legislative recognition of the special status of "certain regions of Donetsk and Lugansk."
Both sides to the Ukraine conflict have repeatedly accused each other of violating the accord reached in Minsk.
