He said it to reporters after a meeting of the UN Security Council where he presented the programme for the German OSCE Chairmanship in 2016, Censor.NET reports referring to Ukrinform.
According to Steinmeier, the OSCE will try to achieve some progress in terms of security situation and a new electoral law for Eastern Ukraine, which, he added, is the main condition for elections to be held in the first half of this year.
According to him, these will be the main issues that the Normandy Four foreign ministers will discuss on Thursday, March 3, in Paris. Steinmeier stated that a political solution was still vague. Although, in his opinion, the situation has been defused, the number of victims and cease-fire violations is still very high.
The permanent representative of France to the UN Francois Delattre, speaking in the debate after Steinmeier's speech, also confirmed that along with the truce in the east of Ukraine other Minsk agreements provisions will be considered in Paris, in particular, constitutional reform, decentralization, and special electoral law for the Donbas.
According to Delattre, the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis is a priority for France, and it is determined to continue to take efforts within the Normandy format for the full implementation of the Minsk agreements, which are the only possible framework for a peaceful settlement of the conflict. The envoy also stressed that Paris seeks to reinstate Ukraine in its internationally recognized borders, which means regaining control over Crimea.
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