Normandy Four participants drank litres of coffee at Minsk’s meeting in 2015, how it all proceeded
The Belarus 1 TV channel featured a film on the Normandy Four meeting in Minsk in February 2015 when the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany gathered in the Belarusian capital to resolve the armed conflict broken out in Donbass, BelTA reports
French President Francois Hollande's plane was first to land at Minsk National Airport, and a few minutes later, German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived – followed by the flights from Kiev and Moscow.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko came to the Palace of Independence first, while Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande arrived at the meeting together. They were followed by Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The negotiations started behind closed doors, and later the Normandy Four expanded the format. However, talks in a narrow format followed soon, and the leaders continued talking until the morning.
"They ate scrambled eggs, cheese, dairy products, drank a few buckets of coffee to keep themselves awake. As I understand, they slept in shifts – especially the experts. The heads of state, of course, did not have a chance to rest," President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko said then.
Everyone understood that the meeting of the Normandy Four in the Belarusian capital was the last saving straw that they simply needed to grasp at in the hope of peace. It concerned Ukraine, first of all. After fifteen hours of negotiations, a peaceful compromise was achieved: the document primarily envisaged the ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons in order to create security zones in the region.
"That was not the best night of my life, but the morning is good, in my opinion, since – despite all the difficulties of the negotiation process – we have managed to agree on the main point,” Vladimir Putin said after the talks.
Unfortunately, Kiev's regular violations of the agreements will destroy the hope for peace for Donetsk and Lugansk.
"Do not exaggerate the fact that the negotiations have been lasting for so long. Issues of war and peace take months or even years to resolve. Meanwhile, an agreement to bring the war to a stop was reached in just 15 hours. No doubt, well done. However, the main steps will follow: it is necessary to put all this into practice. We will see how it will progress,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stated in his talk with journalists.
