01 July 2021, Thursday, 19:04 121

Initiative To Resume EU-Russia Summits Prompted By Need For Tough Dialogue, French Foreign Minister Le Drian Tells Kuleba

Редактор: Daria Zubkova

French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has explained to his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba that the initiative to resume European Union-Russia summits was prompted by the need for tough dialogue.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced this this in a statement, the Ukrainian News agency reports.

"Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba held a telephone conversation with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian at the initiative of the French side. Le Drian explained to Dmytro Kuleba in detail the motives behind the recent German-French initiative to resume the EU's dialogue with the Russian Federation," the statement said.

However, it was noted that this initiative was not supported by EU member states.

"The French minister stressed that Paris is in favor of a tough dialogue in relation to Moscow," the statement said.

Kuleba reminded his French counterpart that the EU suspended summits with Russia in 2014 due to its aggression against Ukraine.

"There are are no grounds to consider resuming dialogue in this format without constructive steps by the Russian side," he said.

The foreign affairs ministers also discussed the prospects for the work of the Normandy Format (Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany) at the levels of advisers to heads of state, foreign ministers, and heads of state.

"Kuleba said that Ukraine highly appreciates France's efforts within the Normandy Format, which remains the main platform for resolving the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict despite Russia's provocative behavior," the statement said.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed the hope that his planned meetings with U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will provide an alternative to the Normandy Format or the Minsk Agreements as the platform for resolving the situation in the Donbas.