German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosted Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and French President François Hollande, on August 24, in Berlin (“Normandy” format minus Russia), at Poroshenko’s urgent request. This unprecedented meeting followed systematic violations of the ceasefire and open sabotage of the international monitoring mission by Russia and its proxies (see EDM, August 13, 14).
By holding this meeting without Russian President Vladimir Putin’s participation, Merkel avoided a public spat in the Normandy Four group (Russia, Germany, France, Ukraine). This allowed Merkel and Hollande to impress directly on Poroshenko that the Verkhovna Rada must, on August 31, pass the constitutional amendment on …read more
Source: The Jamestown Foundation