Russia’s presidential envoy for conflict-management in Ukraine, Dmitry Kozak, has unilaterally announced a pause in the Normandy negotiation process, pending “clarifications to Ukraine’s positions.” Mr. Kozak’s announcements concluded and followed the Normandy format (Germany, France, Russia, Ukraine) meeting held on July 3-4 in Berlin, at the level of diplomatic advisors to the four heads of state and government.
The Berlin meeting was held in spite of the coronavirus emergency and lasted 11 hours without breaks, apparently reflecting a sense of urgency on the part of Berlin, Paris and Kyiv (each from its own considerations) to energize the Normandy process. Moscow’s envoy, Mr. Kozak, however, saw to it that the meeting failed to produce a concluding document or any decision by quadripartite consensus. Some concluding document is supposed to be coordinated among the four sides by telephone, at an unspecified later time.