Council of Europe welcomes statements by Russian, French leaders on Ukrainian settlement

Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland

PARIS, August 20. /TASS/: Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland fully supports the statements of Russian and French presidents, Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron, on the talks of the Normandy Quartet for discussing ways out of the crisis in the east of Ukraine, Spokesperson for the Secretary General Daniel Holtgen wrote on his Twitter account.

"President Macron and President Putin consider restart of Ukraine talks "within weeks" in the Normandy format. Very good news. The Council of Europe and Secretary General Jagland fully support the process," he wrote.

French President announced earlier the intention to discuss the possibility of holding a summit of the Normandy Quartet within weeks with his Russian counterpart. Meanwhile, President Putin stressed that there is no alternative to the Normandy format in terms of settling the situation in eastern Ukraine, adding though that "any meeting, including in the Normandy format, should yield concrete results.".