MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The participation of the leaders from Russia, Germany and France in the negotiations that were held in Minsk on Wednesday and Thursday shows that there is trust between the three countries, experts told Sputnik.
"The negotiations show that there is trust between Paris, Berlin and Moscow, which means that there is trust between the leaders of the countries," Alain Deletroz, senior Associate Fellow at the FRIDE think tank said.
"They negotiated very harsh for 15 hours, so I think this time if the parties don't implement, they will have problems with these leaders," Deletroz said.
The expert expressed some concern with the fact that the ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine will only come into effect on February 15. In his opinion, this means that in the next hours we will see "fighting resuming, because the two sides will try to make the best games they can before Saturday evening".
Speaking about the text of the current agreement, Deletroz said that it is "very global and vague" which means there "could be doubts that a text like this will be indeed respected by all parties".
Nevertheless, he evaluated the results of the talks as "very positive news, at least for the people living in Donbass".
According to the expert, Russian President Vladimir Putin "made a good contribution with his participation".
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande held a meeting in the Normandy Format that lasted for about 15 hours.
The new deal on the East Ukraine standoff includes a comprehensive ceasefire and a further withdrawal of heavy weapons from the crisis-hit region, constitutional reforms and decentralization of the country.
