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MOSCOW, January 20. /TASS/. A meeting between heads of state in ‘the Normandy format’ amid current deterioration of the situation in Ukraine’s south-east does not sound as probable as it was before, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.
“Such a meeting may only take place if its fruitful outcome is prepared,” he said, adding that “now its preparations do not sound so likely as it was before Ukraine’s resumption of hostilities.”
It was earlier planned that a meeting between the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany [the so-called Normandy format] would be held in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana by the end of January.
Meanwhile, the current situation in the conflict zone in the war-torn Ukrainian industrial area of Donbas has escalated sharply over the past week. Last Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent to Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko a written message containing a plan offering conflicting parties to pull back heavy artillery guns. Kiev refused to accept it, the Kremlin said earlier.