Share :

Download PDF :

Deutsche Welle (26 January 2022)

Christoph Hasselbach

Representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France have used what's known as the Normandy format to try to resolve differences. The hope is the talks can also find a way out of the current standoff.

In June 2014, German, French, Russian, and Ukrainian officials met for the first time in a setting known as the Normandy format. It takes its name from the region in northern France, where leaders from the four countries sat together informally during the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the allied landings along beaches there, which began the liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe in World War II.

In 2014 Russia had annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and supported separatists to seize control of the country's easternmost region. Former French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel sat down with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's president at the time, Petro Poroshenko.

Click for more