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News

Russia, Ukraine agree to keep ceasefire, hold new talks next month

January 27, 2022 08:45 AM


Envoys from Moscow and Kyiv on Wednesday committed to a fragile ceasefire in eastern Ukraine during talks in Paris and agreed to continue their discussions against the backdrop of warnings that Russia may be preparing to invade its neighbour.

A Russian troop build-up close to the border with eastern Ukraine has raised fears the Kremlin is planning to intervene in its pro-EU neighbour to halt NATO's expansion in eastern Europe.

A French diplomat said that more than eight hours of discussions brokered by France and Germany had sent a "good signal". 

A German government source later confirmed that the next round would take place in Berlin in the second week of February.

An aide to French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking on condition of anonymity, stressed that the talks had been about resolving the separatist fighting in eastern Ukraine since 2014, not the threat of a Russian invasion.

But "the question was whether the Russians wanted to signal a thaw", he said, adding that the "difficult" discussions had ultimately resulted in something positive.

"In the current circumstances, we received a good signal," he said.

For the first time since 2019, Ukraine and Russia agreed to sign a joint statement along with France and Germany about the ongoing conflict between Ukrainian forces and separatists in the east of the country.

The four nations have been working towards reaching a peace deal for eastern Ukraine since 2014 and are known collectively as the Normandy Group.

"However difficult the discussions have been since December 2019, the Normandy Group has been able to agree on several key points," the French aide said. 

The joint statement committed both sides to "an unconditional respect for the ceasefire" and also said that they would meet again in two weeks' time in Berlin.

A 2014 ceasefire deal -- bolstered in 2020 -- helped end the worst fighting over two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine that has claimed some 13,000 lives.

Western countries have been concerned that Russia could use a flare up in fighting along the front between Ukrainian soldiers and separatists as a pretext to launch an invasion of its neighbour.

- 'Not easy' -

The Kremlin's envoy Dmitry Kozak said the main outcome of the four-way talks was the agreement on keeping the ceasefire.

He said that "despite all the differences in interpretations, we agreed that the ceasefire (in eastern Ukraine) must be maintained by all the parties in line with the accords".

"We need a supplementary pause," he said. "We hope that this process will have results in two weeks."

He said that the Berlin talks would take place at the same level as the Paris session, adding that for the moment a summit involving heads of state was "not on the agenda".

"We hope our colleagues have understood our arguments and that in two weeks we will achieve results," said Kozak, who is also the deputy head of President Vladimir Putin's administration.

He insisted that the situation in the east of Ukraine -- where pro-Russia separatists have declared breakaway regions -- and the tensions along the border were "two separate issues".

Ukraine's envoy Andriy Yermak, speaking to reporters separately, said that the talks were "not easy".

"The support for the sustainable ceasefire is extremely important," he said, adding that there were differences over the interpretation of the Minsk Agreement which ended the worst of the fighting in 2014.

"The very important thing is that today’s communique is the first meaningful document we managed to agree on since December 2019" when Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky met in Paris.

NATO chief says prepared for worst

NATO has delivered its proposals to Russia for a diplomatic solution to tensions triggered by Moscow's military build-up near Ukraine, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, but remained "prepared for the worst".

"We are now reaching out to Russia once again to try to pursue a path of dialogue and find a political solution," he said, after the alliance sent Moscow a written response to its security demands. 

"But of course while we are hoping for and working for a good solution, de-escalation, we are also prepared for the worst," he said.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko confirmed to the news agency Interfax that Moscow had received the response from NATO, which was handed to Russia's envoy in Brussels. 

Asked how long Russia could take to study the response, he said: "We’ll read it. We'll study it. Our partners had taken nearly a month and a half to study our draft."

Stoltenberg said US-led NATO was ready for a "real conversation" over Russian concerns -- but rejected a key Moscow demand to close the door on Ukraine's hope of joining. 

"We cannot and will not compromise on the principles on which the security of our alliances and security in Europe and North America rest," he said. 

The alliance's proposals were handed over the same time as the United States delivered its own written response to the Kremlin. 

Moscow blindsided the West by publishing two draft treaties for the United States and NATO in December that would see Washington's influence rolled back in eastern Europe. 

The demands were made as Moscow massed some 100,000 troops on its border with Ukraine, in a move the West warns could be the prelude to a large-scale invasion. 

Stoltenberg laid out a raft of areas where he said NATO thought it could engage constructively with the Kremlin, including improving communications, increasing transparency around military exercises, and arms control. 

NATO is hoping its offer is enough to convince Moscow to hold further talks with the alliance and de-escalate the tensions on the ground.

US rejects Russia demand on Ukraine but talks see new life

by Shaun Tandon with Stuart Williams in Paris, Jonathan Brown in Moscow and Dmytro Gorshkov in Kyiv

The United States on Wednesday rejected Russia's key demand to bar Ukraine from NATO and said it believed Moscow was ready to invade but offered what it called a new "diplomatic path" out of the crisis.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he would speak again in the coming days to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, as a separate initiative by France brought a promise by Moscow at least to keep talking to Ukraine's government.

One month after Russia put forward sweeping security proposals, having sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine's border, the United States delivered a reply in co-ordination with NATO allies and said it was ready for any eventuality.

"It sets out a serious diplomatic path forward should Russia choose it," Blinken told reporters of the US response, which he said would remain confidential.

He renewed an offer on "reciprocal" measures to address mutual security concerns, including reductions of missiles in Europe and transparency on military drills and Western aid to Ukraine.

But he made clear that the United States would not budge on Russia's core demand that Ukraine never be allowed to join NATO, the US-backed military alliance.

"From our perspective, I can't be more clear -- NATO's door is open, remains open, and that is our commitment," Blinken said.

Russia, which has a complicated historical relationship with Ukraine, has fueled an insurgency in the former Soviet republic's east that has killed more than 13,000 people since 2014.

Russia that year also seized Crimea after the overthrow of a government in Kyiv that had resisted efforts to move closer to Europe.

The United States has warned of severe and swift consequences if Russia invades, including possible personal sanctions on President Vladimir Putin, and NATO has put 8,500 troops on standby.

"While we are hoping for and working for a good solution -- de-escalation -- we are also prepared for the worst," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

Blinken's deputy Wendy Sherman, who led a previous round of talks with Russia, said Putin seemed ready to invade despite the US warnings.

"I have no idea whether he's made the ultimate decision, but we certainly see every indication that he is going to use military force sometime perhaps (between) now and the middle of February," Sherman told a forum.

- Ukraine seeks way out -

The United States again encouraged its citizens to leave Ukraine, warning an invasion could be imminent.

But Ukraine's government, hoping to prevent panic, has played down the dangers and sought to offer ways out.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters the Russian troops posed "a threat to Ukraine" but that the numbers deployed were "insufficient for a full-scale offensive." 

Andriy Yermak, an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky who took part in the Paris talks, wrote on Twitter that the meeting was "a strong signal of readiness for a peaceful settlement."

In an early move to de-escalate that was envisaged by France, Ukraine's government this week withdrew a bill in parliament governing the status of Russian-backed separatist provinces in the east of the country, which Moscow saw as violating previous commitments.

France is hoping that Russia will agree in turn to humanitarian measures such as prisoner exchanges in eastern Ukraine and the opening of checkpoints manned by the separatists.

But Zelensky has stood firm against another French suggestion of direct talks between Ukraine's government and the Russian-backed separatists.



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