Ukraine | Germany says ‘no guarantee’ of peace as talks planned

Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, French President Francois Hollande, right, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have talks in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Feb. 6, 2015

Germany sounded a cautious note over prospects for peace talks on Ukraine, while the government in Kiev claimed more Russian troops entered the conflict zone and Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the crisis on the U.S.
Chances are open for a breakthrough in the yearlong conflict as preparations take place for a summit of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France in Minsk, Belarus, on Feb. 11, though “we don’t know if this is going to work,” German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer told reporters in Berlin yesterday.
There’s “still heavy lifting to do” and “no guarantee” of success, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters before a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels yesterday. “We hope that the open points can be clarified to the point that a Minsk meeting is genuinely promising and can take first steps toward a cease-fire.”
The diplomatic effort comes as the U.S. and some European allies consider supplying arms to Ukrainian forces, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned of a deepening conflict that can’t be won militarily. A breakdown of negotiations would also strain trans-Atlantic unity in dealing with Russia, as Europe’s consensus on economic sanctions shows signs of fraying.
Some 1,500 Russian army troops with combat equipment including Grad multiple-launch rocket systems and artillery vehicles crossed the border into the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine on Feb. 7-8, Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters in Kiev yesterday. Russian regular troops went in the direction of Luhansk and the embattled town of Debaltseve, he said.
The confrontation in Ukraine was “not caused by the Russian Federation” and an “immediate” cease-fire is needed, Putin said in an interview with Egyptian daily Al-Ahram published ahead of his visit to Cairo yesterday. The crisis “emerged in response to the attempts of the U.S. and its Western allies who considered themselves ‘winners’ of the Cold War to impose their will everywhere,” he said.
“We have seen how NATO’s infrastructure was moving closer and closer toward Russia’s borders and how Russian interests were being ignored,” Putin told the paper.
Representatives of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France were to hold talks in Berlin yesterday on Russian-Ukrainian border security, a cease-fire, withdrawal of heavy weaponry, demarcation lines, issues of autonomy and monitoring by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Schaefer said. Patrick Donahue, Mark Raczkiewycz and Henry MeyerBloomberg

eu puts off fresh russia sanctions awaiting minsk talks

France’s foreign minister says the European Union will hold off for now on expanding sanctions against Russia and the separatists it backs in Ukraine and await developments from ongoing peace negotiations. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says the need for more sanctions was to be assessed yesterday. He says “the principle of the sanctions is maintained but the application will depend on what happens on the ground.” European Union foreign ministers have thrown their weight behind fresh diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine, shying away from the calls by some U.S. politicians to provide lethal defensive weapons to Kiev.