Minsk Agreements Must Be Further Implemented, Intensified

Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said that the goal of the Normandy Quartet is to bring to peace to Donbass.

BERLIN (Sputnik) — Germany remains committed to the settlement of the Ukraine conflict through full implementation of the Minsk agreements, a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday ahead of the Normandy Quartet leaders' meeting.

Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin, his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko, and French leader Francois Hollande will meet in Paris on Friday to discuss the implementation of the Minsk peace agreements.

“The Minsk Agreements need to be further implemented and intensified – this issue will be discussed… A peaceful political solution for the eastern Ukraine, peace for the East and its citizens – that is our goal,” spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters.

Ukraine’s southeast has been engulfed in a conflict since April 2014, when Kiev launched a military operation against local independence supporters.

The Normandy Quartet was created in 2014 to secure a peaceful settlement to the conflict in eastern Ukraine. In February, the group worked out a ceasefire deal in Minsk, Belarus, signed by Kiev and the Donbas militias.

In early September, Poroshenko claimed the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine was being observed, signifying that the Minsk agreements were finally taking hold.