Kerry, Hollande and Merkel flew to Moscow. Details of the peace plan were not announced until Putin approves them.
Kyiv, February 06 (PolitNavigator, Vasily Ablyazimov) – Kerry’s visit to Ukraine unexpectedly coincided with the visit of Merkel and Hollande to Kyiv. Three of the world's biggest politicians flew to Moscow on Thursday evening for talks with Putin. Details of the new peace plan have not been announced. Putin's consent is required, writes Associated Press.
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Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande suddenly appeared in Kyiv today. Their visit was not planned, unlike the visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry. The German Chancellor and the French President brought a new peace plan, which was voiced by Poroshenko. This peace plan will be presented in Moscow for consideration by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Merkel and Hollande refused to voice its details until Moscow approves them.
Part of the plan, however, became known. Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande are offering broad autonomy for rebel areas in eastern Ukraine in exchange for a ceasefire. The German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung writes about this.
Poroshenko, according to the newspaper, has already agreed to this plan. Now it’s Putin’s turn.
The new peace plan is based on the Minsk agreement signed last September. The plan proposes a high degree of autonomy for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the withdrawal of heavy weapons and the exchange of prisoners.
Denis Pushilin, a representative of the contact group, said that the peace initiative of Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande is a positive step. “Probably, these meetings with Poroshenko and Putin will lead to some kind of constructive resolution,” Pushilin said.
Pushilin added that until now the Minsk process looked like “an imitation of negotiations” and not real negotiations. Pushilin said that the shelling of populated areas in Donbass by the Ukrainian army is “only intensifying” and that “all types of heavy weapons are used not only against soldiers, but against civilians and infrastructure.”
“These meetings can put pressure on Ukraine to take the path to peace and to direct negotiations with us from a position of dialogue, and not in the form of ultimatums and threats of shelling, as was the case before,” Denis Pushilin said.
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