KIEV (Sputnik) — The Normandy Quartet format, comprising France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine, was created in 2014 to secure a peaceful settlement to the conflict in eastern Ukraine that flared up in April 2014 after Kiev launched a military operation to suppress local militia who refused to recognize the authorities that took power in the country after the overthrow of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
"A phone conference call between the Normandy four leaders is expected in the next few days…Key issues on the agenda will be the security situation in Donbass and the lack of progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements," Kiev's envoy to the Contact Group's humanitarian subgroup, Iryna Herashchenko, said in an interview with Ukrainian Channel 5 television.
In February, the leaders of the Quartet-nations worked out a ceasefire deal in Minsk, which stipulated that constitutional reforms aimed at decentralizing power in Ukraine and local elections in Donbass were to be implemented before the end of 2015, among other provisions.
On October 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met in Paris to discuss the Ukraine crisis and the implementation of the Minsk deals. Even though no new agreements were signed, the talks set a positive tone, according to Merkel.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after the Normandy Quartet ministerial meeting in November that the foreign ministers were confident that the Minsk accord would definitely be implemented but in 2016.
