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Poroshenko, Putin Meet On Ukraine With German, French Leaders

October 02, 2015

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, have begun meeting in Paris with the leaders of France and Germany in an effort to solidify a fragile peace agreement in eastern Ukraine.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande were also expected to query Putin about the Russian air strikes in Syria in a growing debate over exactly which groups Moscow is targeting.

Putin and Hollande met separately ahead of the Ukraine summit to discuss Syria. A French diplomat said they attempted to 'bridge the differences.'

A member of Hollande's administration added that developments in Syria 'will influence the climate' of the talks.

In eastern Ukraine, fighting has nearly stopped along the front line since a renewed cease-fire was initiated on September 1, giving rise to speculation that Moscow was seeking to shift global attention away from Ukraine and toward Russia's fresh campaign in Syria.

The reduction of hostilities between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists in a conflict that has killed more than 7,900 people and displaced hundreds of thousands in 17 months of fighting has officials hoping to move beyond the cease-fire to other issues signed in a Minsk peace deal in February.

Those issues include the holding of local elections and a further pull-back of heavy weapons from the front line.

Ukraine and the rebels earlier this week agreed to withdraw light weapons from the buffer zone between their forces.

Ukrainian officials and mediators from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are also pushing for international observers to be granted access to rebel-controlled zones.

Local Elections

Putin said on the eve of the Paris talks that the two sides in Ukraine are 'far from a resolution, but there are elements that boost our confidence that the crisis can be overcome and the most important point is that there is currently no shooting.'

Another hot topic in the Ukrainian talks is the holding of local elections and returning the Ukrainian-Russian border back to Kyiv's control -- both of which are supposed to be done by the end of 2014 according to the Minsk agreement.

The separatists' representatives have announced the holding of elections on their own terms without the involvement of the Ukrainian government, which is at odds with the Minsk terms.

Ukraine is calling for voting in the areas held by rebel forces to be canceled, and wants the Kremlin to exert pressure on the separatists to have them called off and held under Ukrainian jurisdiction.

Poroshenko has said the rebels' holding of the elections would be a 'red line' that Kyiv could not accept.

The European Union will evaluate progress made on the Minsk accords by the end of the year before deciding whether to extend sanctions against Russia.

Merkel, Hollande, and Poroshenko reportedly discussed the sanctions and progress toward the Minsk goals in a three-way call on October 1.

There have been some calls by politicians in Europe for sanctions against Russia -- initiated after Moscow's annexation of Crimea in March 2014 -- to be lifted.

German Deputy Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel told Spiegel Online that 'of course the Minsk accords must be fully implemented, but step-by-step we must also lift sanctions.'

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/quartet-leaders-hold- ukraine-peace-talks-october-2-paris/27282684.html

Copyright (c) 2015. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.