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VLADIMIR PUTIN AND Ukrainian president-elect Petro Poroshenko have jointly called for a ceasefire in the troubled southeast of Ukraine in a potential breakthrough in a crisis that has poisoned Moscow’s relations with the West.
The two leaders shook hands and talked for a quarter of an hour in a meeting brokered by French President Francois Hollande before a lunch of world leaders attending anniversary ceremonies in France, aides to Hollande said.
French officials said a potential ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists had been discussed, but Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov went further.
“Putin and Poroshenko called for the soonest possible end to bloodshed in southeastern Ukraine, and to military operations on both sides — both by the Ukrainian armed forces and by supporters of the federalisation of Ukraine,” Russian news agencies quoted Peskov as saying.
“They also confirmed that there was no alternative to resolving the situation with peaceful political methods,” Peskov added.
It was the first meeting between the two men since pro-Western chocolate tycoon Poroshenko won Ukraine’s presidential election on May 25.
Moscow had previously said it was ready to work with the new president but stopped short of explicitly recognising him as the legitimate leader of the Ukrainian people.
Tensions in southeastern Ukraine have mounted in recent days with the government admitting on Thursday that it had lost control of three border posts that were being routinely attacked by the rebels.
On Friday, one police officer was killed and two others injured in a mortar attack in Slavyansk, the epicentre of rebel activity in the region.
A French official said Friday’s Putin-Poroshenko meeting had lasted around 15 minutes.
“They were able to begin a dialogue on possible de-escalation measures including Moscow recognising Porochenko’s election,” he added.
“The practicalities of a ceasefire will also be discussed in the coming days.”
The Kremlin has indicated that it will be sending an ambassador to Kiev for Poroshenko’s investiture on Saturday in a move some have interpreted as de facto recognition of the new president’s legitimacy.
A ceasefire could be harder to deliver as, for it to be accepted by the rebels, there would have to be some sort of pullback by Ukrainian government forces which Kiev would regard as an infringement of its right to police all of its sovereign territory as it sees fit.
Putin also held what US officials described as a ten to 15-minute conversation with President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the D-Day events.
The Russian president has repeatedly emphasised that he does not control the rebels while the Western powers accuse Moscow of pulling their strings.
According to French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Putin admitted he could have a “certain influence but not total influence” over events in Ukraine.
“He gave the example of the referendum which took place while he had asked for it not to be held,” Fabius said, referring to the May 11 vote organised by the rebels which produced a large majority in favour of secession.
In their meeting on Friday, which was also attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the two leaders also discussed some of the economic aspects of the crisis, the most important of which is Russian energy giant Gazprom’s doubling of the price of gas it supplies to Ukraine and its demands for a rapid settlement of the country’s arrears.
The meeting here followed Putin’s talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron in Paris on Thursday. Those two encounters were the Russian leader’s first since Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula, previously part of Ukraine, in March.
They was followed up by a formal bilateral discussion with Merkel in Normandy, in which she called on Russia to “live up to its responsibility” to ease the crisis in Ukraine.
“The chancellor expressed her conviction that, the time must now be used, after the internationally recognised presidential election, to stabilise the situation, especially in Eastern Ukraine. Russia must live up to its significant responsibility in this matter,” Merkel said, according to her spokesman Steffen Seibert.
If there is a ceasefire and a significant de-escalation of the crisis, it will be a major coup for Hollande and the gastro-diplomacy that has brought Putin in from the cold.
On Thursday evening, the Socialist leader had to race through a dinner with Obama at a French restaurant so that he could meet Putin for a late supper at his Elysee palace.
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So what was the actual problem?!
None, just lazy journalists creating stories.
Scribbled on a 9 to make it look like an 8, the Donegal b@$tards!!!
With the addition of the extra two numbers the odds of winning are eleven million to two so the lotto is only won a maximum of eight times per year, lotto one & two maybe three times per year. So lotto definitely is a tax on people who are poor at maths.
Free publicity for the ailing lottery?
More & more people are doing their numbers in the bookies these days since ownership of OUR national lottery changed hands and they made it even more difficult to win a substantive prize.
Any stats to back that up.
Too true Frank much better payout for 2, 3 and 4 numbers in Ladbrooks i.e. €100 payout for a euro bet for 2 numbers on the Euromillions.
New operator tried to get out of paying. Plain and simple. Hope the winner enjoys it fair play.
On what basis ?
‘issues has arisen surrounding the payment.’
Glad everything has been sorted out. Puts the incessant grammatical mistakes here into perspective is suppose.
Lifes to shrt too bee corecting misteaks one da jurnal.
None of us are immune to grammatical errors, or indeed, typos, as “Puts the incessant grammatical mistakes here into perspective is suppose” would attest to. I assume that you meant “…. into perspective, I suppose?”
Lol. Yip!
Curse of the too-smart everywhere. BUT the mistake has been corrected.
All the same, the standard of writing on The Journal is pretty low all round. The ‘Opinion Pieces’ rarely rise above Junior Cert essay level. The incessant typos and grammatical mistakes compound the impression that the site is not as well organised as it might be and that the quality of the writing isn’t really an issue for whoever runs it.
That aside, the Polls are particularly poor (as is frequently pointed out). Whoever compiles them should take a course in how to put a basic poll together.
To be fair though, these “journalists” earn a crust from writing. I think the expectation that even the headlines of the articles are grammatically correct is not unreasonable. The whole effort seems amateurish..
I agree with everything you type, but at the end of the day I see the journal.ie as a source of comedy ( with an agenda), and that’s ok. Just don’t take everything at face value. Except Mark Zuckerberg – he’s legit.
@ Andrew. Wasn’t expecting a bear to jump in there.
The lotto is a tax on fools.
Yeah, everyone in the know knows that blackjack is where the big money is made.
I’d have to agree. The standard of English is poor. The “journalists” and most of the followers seem to have failed primary level English and confined their post-primary reading to page 3 in the Sun, “mate”. It’s progress of a kind though. 100 years after the 1916 Rising we’re now just illiterate in one language rather than two.
Hope they dont hold out on my € 15 million after tonights draw.
Play the lotto and support Canadian pensioners…
Solicitors = opportunistic parasites
Good luck with making a will or buying a house so
Do it myself mate. ..hate those filth bags
I’m sure solicitor is pleased..maybe “Argues and Fibs” company no pun intended
If there’s anymore problems with paying the money, I’ll gladly accept it.
“Issues” normally equals “crooks”.
There are issues with your tax returns Mister Trump.
This is a private does to the charity. Trying to cut corners and sneeky tactic to not pay the winner. Along with the thousands that have lost out in funding. i.e. social and sports clubs.
have your say