Germany and France held a four-way talk with Ukraine and Russia to help relieve the conflicts between the two countries. The talks were held in Minsk on Tuesday November 29.
“Even if we don’t manage to find the big solution for the crisis, talks like these are simply necessary to make sure the situation doesn’t get out of control,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the German parliament.
The situation that Steinmeier refers to is between Russia and Ukraine.The conflict between Ukraine and Russia started back in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea. At the time, Crimea had just recently declared its independence from Ukraine.This prompted Ukraine to claim that the annexation of Crimea by Russia violated many international laws. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) also accused Russia of supporting the separatist movement in Ukraine by supplying them with weapons and troops which added more fuel to the already burning fire.
The four countries previously met in October to start the implementation of the 2015 Minsk peace agreement which alleviated the war in the Donbass region of Ukraine. Originally, the Minsk Agreement created a ceasefire in Ukraine as week as new election laws. Although,most of the Minsk Agreements has not been put into place while other aspects of the agreement have been violated, including violation of the ceasefire.
The meeting failed to reach a breakthrough in the conflict,but there are still hopes for a full implementation of the Minsk Agreement in the future.