The Chancellor has welcomed the exchange of prisoners between the Ukrainian government and the separatists. At the same time she regretted the fact that the planned meeting of the Contact Group with all signatories to the Minsk Protocol had not taken place.
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On Saturday evening (27 December) Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by telephone with both Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko and Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev about the situation in eastern Ukraine. President Nazarbayev visited Ukraine last week and reported to the Chancellor on his talks there.
Angela Merkel welcomed the exchange of prisoners between the Ukrainian government and the separatists on Friday evening (26 December). Agreement was reached on Christmas Eve in Contact Group negotiations in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Representatives of Ukraine, Russia, the separatists and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) participated in the negotiations.
"That is certainly a sound step," declared deputy government spokesperson Christiane Wirtz during the government press conference on Monday 29 December. On its own though, it is certainly not yet a step that will lead to peace in eastern Ukraine. "It is still absolutely and fundamentally essential" that the agreements reached in Minsk in September are implemented. To this extent it is vital to achieve further meetings of the Contact Group in Minsk, stressed Christiane Wirtz.
There can only be a stabilisation of the situation if the line of contact agreed in Minsk is implemented at last. Angela Merkel also made this plain in her telephone calls on Saturday evening. She called on the Russian government to use the influence it has over the separatists to this end.
"We are all interested in seeing the situation stabilised swiftly, and in seeing the Minsk Protocol implemented," said Sebastian Fischer, spokesperson of the Federal Foreign Office on Monday. Everybody who can "is very welcome to contribute to resolving the conflict". This applies in particular to those who have specially good relations to the region and regional expertise.
The Minsk Protocol, which was signed on 5 September 2014, provides for the withdrawal of heavy weapons, the exchange of prisoners, and the monitoring of both the ceasefire and the Ukrainian-Russian border by the OSCE. One main concern, in view of the coming winter, is to improve the humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine.
On 22 December Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke at length by telephone with Presidents Hollande, Poroshenko and Putin. They all agreed that progress must urgently be made on implementing the Minsk Protocol. They also discussed specific proposed solutions, especially regarding the exchange of prisoners.