(Bloomberg) -- Want the lowdown on European markets? In your inbox before the open, every day. Sign up here.French President
Emmanuel Macron will host the leaders from
Russia,
Germany and
Ukraine on Dec. 9, citing “major progress” in efforts to resolve tensions in Crimea, which was annexed by
Moscow in 2014.“The summit will take place against the backdrop of major progress since last summer in negotiations for the settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine,” Macron’s office said in a statement on Friday. Steps “have included the disengagement of troops in several areas of tension on the line of contact,” according to the statement.Macron, who will be meeting with German Chancellor
Angela Merkel,
Russian President
Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Paris, said there will be a renewed commitment progress.Talks to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russian-backed fighters produced the first major breakthrough this month since a stalled 2015 peace accord.Negotiators in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, agreed on a schedule under which
elections would be held in the breakaway regions and a new law passed granting them special status. The plan known as the Steinmeier formula was proposed by Frank-Walter Steinmeier when he was Germany’s foreign minister.To contact the reporter on this story: Helene Fouquet in
Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Richard Bravo, Raymond ColittFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.