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What followed the Paris Normandy Format summit?
Summary
A look back at the days after the first Zelensky–Putin meeting and the ceasefire pledge made in Paris.
What was left of the Paris talks by 15 December 2019, six days after leaders from four countries gathered to discuss peace in Ukraine's Donbass? The meeting on 9 December had brought together Volodymyr Zelensky, Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel.
It was the first time Putin and Zelensky had met. It was also the first four-way leaders' meeting in the Normandy Format since 2016, according to reports at the time.
The summit produced a concrete pledge. Following what was described as a breakthrough in the talks, Russia and Ukraine agreed to implement a ceasefire in the Donbass by the end of 2019. That left roughly two weeks from the date of this retrospective for the commitment to take effect.
The format behind the talks
The Normandy Format, also called the Normandy contact group or Normandy Four, was a grouping of Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France. It first met informally in 2014 during the 70th anniversary of the D-Day celebrations in Normandy, France. It later played a substantial role in mediating the Minsk agreements between 2014 and 2015.
The group continued to meet until 2022. Further meetings that year failed to deescalate rising tensions before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
On 15 December 2019, though, the focus was on the unfinished business of Paris: whether the ceasefire agreed there would be put into practice before the year ended.
