Russian President Vladimir Putin’s administration announced on Saturday that advisers from Russia, the Ukraine, France and Germany are meeting in Paris on Jan. 25 to conduct talks on eastern Ukraine.
In an interview with Reuters, Mykhailo Podolyak, the adviser to Ukraine’s Chief Negotiator Andriy Yermak, confirmed a meeting was planned in Paris and said a preliminary date had been set for Jan. 26.
The planned talks take place against a backdrop of mounting tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine.
Russia is building up its military on its border, and Western countries have warned of severe economic consequences if the country invades its neighbor. Although Russia denies possessing the intention to invade Ukraine, it is demanding that NATO and the United States provide legally binding security guarantees.
These four-way Normandy format talks aim to bring an end to a long-running conflict between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
As a result of Russia annexing the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine and Moscow-backed forces seizing Donbass territory that Kyiv wants back in 2014, relations between the two countries collapsed.
According to the source, Russian negotiator Dmitry Kozak will participate in the talks.
In January, Kozak stated that the meeting would take place by the end of this month.
