As a follow-up to the March 2 top-level teleconference in the Normandy format, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier continued to discuss the situation in Ukraine over the phone.

They highlighted the positive steps taken in the implementation of the February 12 Minsk agreements by the conflicting sides. Mr Lavrov emphasised that further progress towards stabilisation in Ukraine largely depends on comprehensive compliance by Kiev, Lugansk and Donetsk with the ceasefire and the completion of the withdrawal of heavy weapons to the agreed upon distance from the contact line by the Ukrainian side.

The ministers noted that the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission should continue its vigorous efforts to monitor the fulfilment of the Minsk agreements and that the international community should take part in these supervision efforts as well.

The ministers paid special attention to the comprehensive implementation of the February 12 Minsk agreements, including their provisions on amnesties, the preparations for local elections and ensuring the special status of the relevant areas of Donbass under a constitutional reform that is acceptable to all. They agreed that it is necessary to speed up the creation of the working groups within the Contact Group with this aim in mind and in line with the February 12 documents.

The ministers also discussed practical issues of preparations for the meeting of Foreign Ministry spokesmen scheduled to take place on March 6, 2015 in Berlin, as agreed upon by the leaders of the Normandy Four.