German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for a Normandy four meeting in Berlin, which if held successfully could help reduce the geopolitical tensions prevailing between the Russia and the West. Ms. Merkel has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to a Normandy format meeting, where they will be joined by French President Francois Hollande and Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko. It would the first meeting of the Normandy in more than a year. The last meeting was held in Paris. The office of the chancellor announced the agenda as “to assess the implementation of the Minsk accords and to discuss further steps”. Minsk accords were struck on February 2015 to ensure truce between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists.

In recent days, tensions between Russia and the United States have escalated over the war in Syria and after French president criticized Russia’s role in Syria, Mr. Putin canceled his trip to Paris. So this can be seen as Ms. Merkel’s effort to refrain the tensions from escalating further.