Russia hopes Berlin meeting will "give impetus" to Ukraine Contact Group talks
MOSCOW. Jan 23 (Interfax) - Moscow is hopefully that a January 21 meeting of foreign ministers from Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France, the countries of the "Normandy format", will give an impetus to efforts intended to convene the next meeting of the trilateral Contact Group for Ukraine and resolve all issues concerning the withdrawal of heavy weapons, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told reporters on Friday.
"We hope that the Berlin meeting will prompt the Contact Group's participants to meet within the next few days to discuss a timeframe for withdrawing heavy weapons in order to prevent further tragedies similar to the events that occurred at a bus stop in the center of Donetsk recently," he said.
It will be impossible to resolve these problems without meetings of the Contact Group, he said.
"The Contact Group should hold meetings starting from today. This issue is in the spotlight, primarily in the Russian Federation. And, as far as I understand, both Germany, France and, hopefully, Ukraine are tackling this issue today. Let's wait and see what happens next," Karasin said.