Normandy Four to meet at ministerial level

The Normandy Four countries agreed on Oct. 11 to hold
a meeting of their foreign ministers to discuss the conflict in Ukraine. German
Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron first called
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky then Russian President Vladimir Putin to
come to an agreement on the ministerial-level meeting, Reuters reported. No
date was set for the meeting.

James Hydzik: Despite months of stalling, Putin would have had a difficult time if
he had said no yesterday, in light of his defending Gazprom’s refusal to send
natural gas to the EU via Ukraine. Each successive ‘no’ now will seem to
connect the gas issue with more outwardly political ones despite the Russians’
insistence that it’s a business decision. Total intransigence would have led to
total rejection, so he had to agree. Now that the question of ‘if’ is solved,
that of ‘when’ the foreign-minister level meeting will take place remains.