Poroshenko announces talks in Berlin to prepare for Normandy-format summit
KYIV. May 29 (Interfax) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has instructed a deputy head of his administration to go to Berlin on June 1 to hold talks in preparation for a top-level Normandy format meeting.
"We very firmly expect that a decision regarding peacekeepers will be made in the near future. We agreed in Aachen to try to arrange a top-level Normandy-format meeting as soon as possible, and I have instructed a deputy chief of the presidential administration to go to Berlin on June 1 to hold the relevant negotiations on the matter," Poroshenko said at a meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Poroshenko said Steinmeier and he had discussed the implementation of the Minsk Agreements, including the deployment of a peacekeeping mission with a UN Security Council mandate as an essential security element.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has gone to New York on the president's orders to attend a UN Security Council session dealing with Ukraine.
"We thank Germany for its engagement, and it will be very important to hear the Russian representative's position. Certainly, we very firmly expect that a decision regarding peacekeepers might be made in the near future," Poroshenko said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said following talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 18 that foreign ministers were already preparing for a possible top-level Normandy-format meeting, although the date had not yet been set.
Putin also said Russia and Germany would continue working together within the Normandy format.