No common approach on the roadmap for the Donbass settlement reached so far

Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, affirmed that no common approach on the roadmap for the Donbass settlement has been reached so far. He reminded that the four Ministers met in late November in Minsk. So far, no common approach has surfaced, although the process is slowly moving, at a snail’s pace however. At their meeting in the Belarusian capital city on November 29, the Normandy Four, namely Russian, German, French and Ukrainian, Foreign Ministers failed to agree a roadmap for the implementation of the Minsk’s agreements. The agreements, signed on September 2014 and February 2015, envisaged a ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and people’s militias in the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Lugansk starting from February 15 and subsequent withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of engagement. The deal also laid out a roadmap for a lasting settlement in Ukraine, including local elections and constitutional reform to give more autonomy to the war-torn eastern regions.