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Germany Hosts Meeting to Review Minsk Agreements on Ukraine

By VOA News October 19, 2016

Leaders of Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France have gathered in Berlin for four-way talks in efforts to revive the stalled Minsk peace agreement aimed at reaching a political settlement in eastern Ukraine.

Amid escalating tensions between the West and Russia, Merkel invited Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and French President Francois Hollande to assess the implementation of the Minsk agreement since the last meeting and discuss further steps, but prospects of significant progress have not been optimistic.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday in Berlin, Merkel said "things are stalled in many areas such as the cease-fire, political issues and humanitarian issues," adding it is worth every effort to seize every chance for progress.

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the Kremlin is not expecting a breakthrough on Ukraine. "The goal of the meeting is to see where we stand and identify the obstacles to fulfilling the Minsk agreements,'' he said. "Russia has shown a constructive flexibility, but it cannot be the only one doing so.''

This is Putin's first visit to Berlin since the beginning of Ukraine conflict in 2014 and comes one day before the 28 leaders of the Europan Union are due to convene to discuss relations with Russia, including sanctions related to its involvement in Ukraine, which are due for renewal at the end of the year.

The four leaders have held sporadic meetings to discuss the implementation of the Minsk accord, the last of them in Paris on October 2, 2015.

The 2015 Minsk agreement mediated by France and Germany has contributed to reduce the intensity of large-scale battles between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine, but clashes have continued and efforts to reach a political settlement have stalled.

The agreement, signed in the Belarusian capital by representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the separatist rebels, calls for Ukraine to decentralize power and adopt laws providing for self-governance in areas of eastern Ukraine currently controlled by the separatists.

Ukraine has accused Russia of not doing enough to influence rebels to relinquish control over parts of the Ukrainian-Russian border.

Russia, for its part, has accused Ukraine of not adopting the constitutional amendments Moscow says it was obligated to introduce granting autonomy to parts of eastern Ukraine.

All sides involved have already agreed to the terms of the peace deal signed in 2015, though it has failed to stop the fighting in the area.