News & Events in Belarus

MINSK, 12 February (BelTA) – The Normandy 4 leaders have been talking for nearly 13 hours in Minsk, BelTA has learned.

Initially President of Russia Vladimir Putin, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, France President Francois Hollande, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met for private negotiations. About two hours later the four heads of state came out for a joint photo session. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko also took part in the photo shoot. After that, the heads of state went for expanded-participation talks that took about 1.5 hours. Later on the heads of state resumed negotiations with restricted participation.

Over 500 reporters have been accredited to cover the meeting of the heads of state of the Normandy Quartet. Those are representatives of internationally recognized mass media from Russia, the USA, France, the UK, Germany, China, and Cuba. The meeting is also covered by reporters from Ukraine, Japan, Czech Republic, Poland, Qatar, Netherlands, Spain, Georgia, Norway, Switzerland, and Italy.

At the same time negotiations between representatives of the sides involved in the Ukrainian conflict took place in Minsk in the form of the contact group with assistance of Russia and the OSCE.

A coordinated document can be adopted once the talks of the Normandy quartet and the contact group on Ukraine are over.