No breakthrough at Minsk talks
PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp
27.08.2014 13:08
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No breakthrough at Minsk talks. John Beauchamp reports.
A meeting in Minsk between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has led to calls by Poroshenko for an urgent ceasefire roadmap aimed at putting an end to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko (C) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) attend the summit of the Heads of States of the Customs Union and representatives of the European Commission in Minsk, Belarus, 26 August 2014. Photo: PAP/EPA/MYKOLA LAZARENKO/POOL
The Ukrainian president has said that all sides “without exception” have backed the proposals. But the meeting didn’t provide any breakthrough, as John Beauchamp reports.
Judging from the bilateral talks, Marek Menkiszak from the Centre for Eastern Studies thinks that Putin is trying brush off responsibility of the conflict and push Kiev into talks with the pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.
“The Russians are trying to force Kiev into talking directly with the separatists, which are labelled as ‘terrorists’ by Ukrainian authorities, at a time when Moscow actually has a sway on them and is controlling their activities, but formally does not take any responsibility for them.”