Posted on 02/06/2015 7:48:29 PM PST by UMCRevMom@aol.com
The leaders of France, Germany, and Russia have failed to reach a breakthrough peace deal on Ukraine during talks in Moscow. But they agreed to work on a shaky September cease-fire.
The agreement came a day after the European leaders met Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv and follows a renewed assault by Russia-backed rebels. Ukrainians are hopeful for a lasting peace though many remain skeptical.
A Kremlin spokesman described Ukraine peace talks Friday between French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Russian President Vladimir Putin as constructive and substantive.
Dmitry Peskov indicated no new deal was reached after five hours of closed-door, private discussions in Moscow. But he said they agreed to work on a September cease-fire drawn up in the Belorussian capital, Minsk, that has been routinely violated.
Peskov said the leaders will be joined by Poroshenko in four-way talks on Saturday, with further contacts set for Sunday.
French sources say those talks will focus on reviving a tattered peace deal signed in September that has since been discarded by both sides. More than a quarter of the rebellion's nearly 5,400 fatalities have occurred since then.
Deals underway
Ukraine insists that any new accord must honor cease-fire boundaries agreed on in September and can not include territory gained by rebels in recent weeks of heavy fighting.
Based on proposals made by the president of France and the German Chancellor, he said, work is under way to prepare the text of a possible joint document on implementation of the Minsk agreements.
The Minsk deal was supposed to end clashes in Ukraine and see a withdrawal of foreign fighters and military equipment. But western and Ukrainian officials accuse Russia of continuing to supply and support rebels fighting government forces in the east. The Kremlin denies it.
Peskov said the leaders of France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine would talk by phone Sunday about the results of the Moscow meeting and to work on the possible document.
He said the document would include proposals of the Ukrainian president and proposals formulated and added today by President Putin.
The Moscow meeting follows a sudden trip Thursday to Kyiv where the European leaders discussed a peace plan with Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko.
The renewed diplomatic effort comes after an upsurge in fighting between government forces and Russia-backed rebels and as the United States considers arming Ukraine.
Diplomats meet in Brussels
In Brussels Friday, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden accused Russia of continuing to escalate the conflict in Ukraine "by sending in mercenaries and tanks."
"Ukraine is fighting for the very survival now," Biden told reporters at a joint press briefing with President of the European Council, Donald Tusk. "This is the moment the U.S. and Europe must stand together. Russia cannot be allowed to redraw the map of Europe, because that's exactly what they are doing."
Biden is among the world leaders, diplomats and defense officials expected in Munich later Friday for a three-day security conference where the Ukraine crisis is high on the agenda. Top world leaders, diplomats and defense officials are expected at the conference, including Poroshenko, Biden, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Also Friday, pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian officials agreed to a temporary truce that allows for a humanitarian corridor so civilians can be evacuated from battle-scarred areas in eastern Ukraine. Convoys of buses converged Friday on the town of Debaltseve, where the population has been trapped in the crossfire of fierce fighting.
The United Nations refugee agency reported that the fighting in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region has pushed the number of registered internally displaced people nationwide to 980,000. The UNHCR said another 600,000 Ukrainians have sought asylum or other forms of legal stay in neighboring countries, including Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Poland, Hungary and Romania, since last February.
US diplomatic efforts
On Thursday in Kyiv, Kerry blamed pro-Russian separatists and the Kremlin for the escalating violence in eastern Ukraine, saying Putin "can make the choices that could end this war."
Kerry spoke after talks with the president. "We want a diplomatic resolution," he said. "But we can not close our eyes to the tanks that are crossing the [Russian] border coming into Ukraine."
Russia has repeatedly denied direct involvement in the 10-month rebellion, which has claimed nearly 5,400 lives.
Lethal aid
Ahead of his meeting with Kerry, Ukraine's president told Germany's Die Welt newspaper the recent upsurge in fighting should move NATO to provide Ukraine with more support, including modern weapons.
"We still need a lot of military, technical, and specialist help to improve the fighting strength of the Ukrainian army," Poroshenko said in the interview. The Obama administration is evaluating those proposals, but has so far stopped short of providing Kyiv with lethal aid.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Thursday that reports Washington may provide Kyiv with "modern lethal weapons" are a cause for "serious concern." Such a move, he said, would not only worsen the situation in eastern Ukraine, but "threaten the security of Russia, whose territory has been subjected to repeated attacks from the Ukrainian side."
He added that such a decision "may cause enormous damage to U.S.-Russian relations," especially if residents of eastern Ukraine are killed by American weapons.
Putin holds emergency meeting
In Moscow, the Kremlin reported Putin held an emergency meeting of his advisory Security Council to discuss the Ukraine situation, in light of his meeting with Merkel and Hollande.
Fighting in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine surged after last week's breakdown of the latest round of peace talks aimed at ending the rebellion.
Watch related report from VOA's Carla Babb:
"Ukraine is fighting for the very survival now," Biden told reporters at a joint press briefing with President of the European Council, Donald Tusk. "This is the moment the U.S. and Europe must stand together. Russia cannot be allowed to redraw the map of Europe, because that's exactly what they are doing."
If Russia stops shooting and pulls out, there would be peace. These Chamberlains are ridiculous.
TOTALLY agree with you!
SASC MEMBERS CALL FOR MILITARY ASSISTANCE TO UKRAINE 2-5-15
[VIDEO]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9IxTcEiBUo
Negotiating with a devil? Bet that’s productive.
During the Cold War, the LIBERALS had ALWAYS SAID that we needed to ‘negotiate’ with the Russians, rather than throw firebombs.
Now is their chance to see if they meant it.
Media sources across the globe have made use of the controlled leak of information about the meeting, new Franco-German initiative exposed is, essentially, another attempt to “gain the Beast's favor” by letting him eat up the next piece of Ukrainian territory. Of course, all of this is wrapped in slogans promoting the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the "uncertain status" of the area controlled by the terrorists of the DNR, LNR and the Russian Armed Forces on Ukrainian territory. A reminder should be given about the Crimean peninsula occupied by Russia in March 2014, where the old and newly deployed military bases of the Russian Federation have been strengthened. These military bases can be determining factors in the aggravation of the situation in the Black Sea region with #Crimea used as a bridgehead for missile strikes not only into the territory of into mainland #Ukraine but also into neighbouring countries. Currently, it seems to be impossible but as practice shows the XXI century is ruled by the same law as it was hundreds of years ago - the law of arms and power. Countries armed with the nuclear baton allow themselves to attack smaller countries and encroach on their territory integrity and inviolability, though they actually declared in international treaties that it was precisely this integrity and inviolability that they would uphold. European countries leaders forget that the Kremlin puts its money where its mouth is and that it doesn’t give a whit for signatures on paper; there is no other law but the law of force. If Europe hopes to lull the Russian Beast with Ukraine, it is deeply mistaken, as the Beast is insatiable and having plunged one European country into war, it will soon continue with the second and the third
When have I seen this before?
Putin is a psychopath, intent on only one thing - power. He, like other psychopaths will pathologically lie about anything and everything to gain the advantage. Merkel realizes that he has lied before about this, but she still trusts him. She is a useful idiot to Putin, nothing more.
Psychopaths are the wolves in society. One cannot reason with them. One cannot negotiate with them. Avoiding conflict and war only serves the wolves benefit, for they would rather gain power without fighting. Putin is not close to powerful enough to take on NATO. But he is powerful enough to take on Ukraine by itself, if leaders are as weak as Merkel.
But since Merkel is a useful idiot, afraid of fighting the wolf, Putin will win this round and Russia will devour more people and land in eastern Ukraine.
History will repeat itself.
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