Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin has said that the Russian side is deliberately delaying the negotiation process on the settlement of the situation in Donbas, waiting for a change of leadership in several key countries in the world.

"Russia is deliberately playing for time [...] the logic of delaying is, to my mind, connected with the fact they are waiting for the change in conditions, such as changing the U.S. leadership and the possibility to negotiate with them, weakening of Europe's positions, etc.," he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

The minister also noted that transatlantic and European solidarity is of great importance now. "And it's not only about sanctions [...] If there is solidarity, then Russia has no place in the civilized world, and it is impossible to live outside it," Klimkin said.

The foreign minister also stressed that Russia, delaying the negotiation process, hopes to change Normandy format's participants. There are members in the Normandy format that know the matter very well, and Russia also wants to take advantage of it - to lose such key politicians, for whom this is not just a political issue, but also an emotional one," the minister said.

Klimkin also expressed regret over the possibility that head of the German Foreign Ministry Frank-Walter Steinmeier might also leave the negotiation process.

"During all these years Steinmeier has not just learned the situation, he is aware of it in details. Of course, all of us wish him to be the president, but I have told him we regret that he will leave the negotiating process," the Ukrainian foreign minister said.