Talks with the Russian Federation in Berlin yield no results

Talks between the leaders of Ukrainian, Russian, German and French Foreign Affairs Ministries ended in Berlin after midnight, Kyiv time, that lasted five hours. German Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier made a brief statement at the end of the meeting. His words make it clear that no concrete agreements had been reached. “Nevertheless, I hope that we achieved progress on some point,” Spiegel cites the minister. “We agreed that we will make the first report (on the meeting) in our capitals, to the heads of our countries. It is possible that on Tuesday we will agree to continue today’s discussion,” the German MFA also said, Reuters cites. “The goal (of the talks) remains the same: to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine and prevent further casualties,” added Steinmeier. Pavlo Klimkin’s tweet further testifies to the fact that the talks ended without any result. He noted that they will have to meet “another five times for five hours” in order to “move forward.” Meanwhile the Ukrainian diplomat, who participated in the meeting in Berlin, told “European Pravda” that one of the representatives of the Russian delegation “made irrelevant jokes.” “It seemed he tried to relax the participants. However the Ukrainian side had nothing to laugh about,” said the diplomat. He also emphasized that the Ministers did not stay to wait until Steinmeier spoke to the press and left after the end of the meeting. This took away the German MFA’s right to a “joint statement.” It is necessary to add that this was not a sign a protest. The Ukrainian MFA remained satisfied with the support on part of the Germans and the French, which he stated on his Twitter. “I felt the support of our partners,” noted the Minister. Earlier the head of the French MFA Laurent Fabius stated that the key principle of dialogue with Russia had to be the maintenance of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Source: European Integration Translated by Mariya Shcherbinina