Germany decries Russia's publication of diplomatic notes

Germany's Foreign Ministry on Thursday said Russia broke diplomatic protocols by publishing pages of diplomatic letters detailing confidential communication on sensitive multilateral talks about the insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

The letters released Wednesday were from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Lavrov said they were intended to show Moscow's diplomatic stance on continuing the talks had been publicly misrepresented.

On November 9, Paris accused Moscow of refusing to accept a ministerial meeting with France, Ukraine and Germany to discuss the pro-Russian separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine, as part of the so-called Normandy format of talks.

Russia published 28 pages of diplomatic documents it contends show that Foreign Minister Lavrov had said in advance he would not be able to attend the meeting that had been set for November 11.

According to the documents seen by DW, Lavrov wrote he had a "very tight schedule" in Moscow on November 11, and that publicly announcing the date for a Normandy format meeting was "not tactful."

"When Russia's approaches to resolving the inner conflict in Ukraine and organizing the Normandy meeting are being distorted, we have nothing left to do but take a non-standard step and make our correspondence public," Lavrov said. 

'Breach of diplomatic practices'

"We regard this step as a breach of diplomatic practices," the German Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday.

"Germany and France have been working intensively for months to continue negotiations and implement a concrete peace agenda" for the conflict in eastern Ukraine, it added.

Germany's Foreign Ministry said that it had made "several concrete" proposals for a foreign ministers meeting, which Russia had "refused."

The French Foreign Ministry said the Russian approach was "contrary to diplomatic rules and customs."

Merkel says Ukraine talks more important than leaked letters

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a press conference in Berlin on Thursday evening that while it was "not surprising" that the notes were published, and that "no one has anything to hide," she regrets that a new round of negotiations on Ukraine have not been able to move forward.

"The reasons why there was no foreign minister meeting are certainly seen completely differently by the French and German sides, on the one hand, and by the Russian side on the other," Merkel said.

Merkel said she had also spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin about a Normandy format meeting taking place while she is still chancellor.

"I would even have liked to hold a leadership level meeting, unfortunately, that has not happened," Merkel said.

"Publishing the correspondence doesn't change this, because, in my opinion, a meeting should have taken place," she added.

What is the Normandy format?

For years, the German and French governments have taken the lead in trying to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine in the eastern Donbas region.

The first time was in 2014, shortly after the Russian annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.

The so-called Normandy format of talks, named after the first venue of the negotiations during the 2014 D-Day commemoration in northern France, brought together leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France.

As tension in eastern Ukraine has spiked recently, calls have grown for international mediation. 

Ukraine has estimated that as many 100,000 Russian troops are currently present in the border area with Russia.

On Monday, the foreign ministers of Germany and France issued a statement supporting Ukraine and calling on Russia to "adopt a posture of restraint and provide transparent information about its military activities."

The last Normandy format leader summit was held in Paris in December 2019. A follow-up summit in Berlin, originally planned for 2020, is still pending.

Edited by: Farah Bahgat

Written with material from Reuters news agency