MUNICH (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Russian, Ukrainian, French and German foreign ministers held talks in the Normandy format on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to discuss peace progress in eastern Ukraine.
"We will stay in close contact with the US, this format should be preserved," Gabriel said after he met with Russian, French and Ukrainian counterparts, which took place on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
"We have reached several agreements. All sides have agreed to use their influence to implement the decisions made by the Contact Group a couple of days ago," Sigmar Gabriel said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
The French, German, Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers will meet again in the coming weeks to prepare the launch of a political process in eastern Ukraine, he added.
The atmosphere of the Saturday ministerial meeting in the so-called Normandy format was good, but the existing problems should be solved on site, he concluded.
In 2014, Kiev authorities launched a military operation against militias in the Donbass region. In 2015, the two sides reached a ceasefire deal brokered by the leaders of the Normandy quartet including Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine in Minsk. Throughout 2016, the Normandy Four and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have been stressing the need to implement Minsk provisions but Kiev has stalled in giving a special status to Donbass as specified in the agreement. Ceasefire violations have continued.
