Foreign Affairs
Related: About this forumEuropean Leaders to Discuss Ukraine as Russia Flexes Muscle in Syria
PARIS The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France gathered here on Friday for a summit meeting that is aimed at bolstering the peace process in eastern Ukraine but that will most likely be overshadowed by Russias military action in Syria.
Just after noon, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia arrived at the Élysée Palace in Paris, where President François Hollande of France is hosting the gathering. President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany joined him.
After a series of one-on-one meetings, the leaders were to discuss the situation in eastern Ukraine, where a military conflict between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces has left nearly 8,000 dead since April 2014 and has prompted the European Union and the United States to impose heavy economic sanctions on Russia.
The meetings stated purpose is to shore up the Minsk accord, the agreement between the four powers that was hammered out in the capital of Belarus in February. It is supposed to be put in effect by the end of this year, and the talks on Friday are intended to iron out remaining differences. A more recent deal was reached on the withdrawal of small-caliber weapons.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/03/world/europe/european-leaders-summit-meeting-ukraine.html
bemildred
(90,061 posts)By Jessica Camille Aguirre and Peter Spinella, dpa
Paris (dpa) - Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Paris Friday for talks with French President Francois Hollande ahead of a summit this afternoon on the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
The talks, scheduled to address the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, have been overshadowed in recent days by both France's and Russia's announcements that they had commenced airstrikes in Syria. Diplomatic sources said Syria would likely be addressed during the meetings.
The summit was planned as a follow-up meeting to a peace agreement inked in February in Minsk to end the Ukraine conflict. The peace accord, which included the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front lines, has since been flouted many times in a conflict that according to UN estimates, has killed more than 8,000 people and displaced 2 million.
Military and nationalist vigilante groups have been battling pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine since spring 2014, but fighting has calmed over the past month, leading some to hope the summit might come at a turning point for a potential ceasefire.
http://www.dpa-international.com/news/international/ukraine-summit-with-four-leaders-overshadowed-by-syria-strikes-a-46830673.html
bemildred
(90,061 posts)International monitors say they have spotted a new kind of Russian weapons system in rebel-held Ukraine this week, possible evidence of Moscow's continued interest in Ukraine even as it focuses on Syria.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which is monitoring a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, reported that its monitors had seen a mobile TOS-1 'Buratino' weapons system for the first time.
The Buratino is equipped with thermobaric warheads which spread a flammable liquid around a target and then ignite it. It can destroy several city blocks in one strike and cause indiscriminate damage.
Only Russia produces the system and it was not exported to Ukraine before the conflict broke out, according to IHS Jane's Group and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which track arms exports.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/world/organization-for-security-and-co-operation-in-europe-spots-deadly-russian-rocket-system-in-ukraine-for-first-time-1130497.html