Giving up Minsk process, Normandy format will let Putin avoid fulfilling commitments – Poroshenko

10:19, 28.03.2019 1 min read

Giving up the Minsk peace process and the Normandy format in favor of any other format of negotiations on Donbas and Crimea will allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to avoid fulfilling already undertaken commitments, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said.

"Anyone who offers something else – Budapest formats, Warsaw formats, Moscow formats – this is done with one purpose: to let Putin avoid the commitments he undertook. If Ukraine itself abandons the Minsk process, if Ukraine itself abandons the Normandy format, sanctions will be lifted. This is what Putin wants. Ukraine will not get anything," Poroshenko told Ukrainian television channels on Wednesday.

"Therefore, incompetent and irresponsible state-mongers cannot be let anywhere near these processes. For it will turn out that the huge price paid for our opportunity to build a country will be worthless," he said.