MOSCOW. May 10 (Interfax) - Russia is ready for a meeting of the foreign ministers in the Normandy format (Russia, Germany, France, and Ukraine) on the condition that this meeting is substantive, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday after talks with his German colleague, Heiko Maas.
"Our colleague [German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas] has mentioned a proposed meeting of the foreign ministers in the Normandy format. We are ready to discuss this proposal. We even discussed the substantive content of a possible meeting today," Lavrov said.
"German authorities have some ideas of their own," he said.
"We said that if the ministers [of the Normandy format] meet, they should at least complete the implementation of the instructions given by the three presidents and the chancellor in Berlin 18 months ago - i.e., make sure there is consent to disengage forces and hardware in Stanytsia Luhanska, which the Ukrainian side is hindering despite the OSCE's multiple confirmations of its ability to do so," Lavrov said.