German, French leaders bring new proposal to Putin
Moscow • As Western anxiety about Ukraine’s spiralling conflict grows and sanctions bite down ever harder on Russia’s economy, the leaders of France and Germany met Friday with President Vladimir Putin on a new proposal to try to bring an end to the shooting and start the long process of finding a lasting peace.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hol- lande brought a proposal to Moscow a day after discussing it with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv. The contents of the proposal have not been revealed, but it is aimed at salvaging a peace plan agreed upon last year in Minsk, Belarus.
In Washington, the meeting was viewed with skepticism.
“I’m not going to say it’s a positive sign that they’re listening,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said of Russia. “They’ve been listening. They just haven’t been acting.”
The United States and other Western countries contend Russia has supplied troops and equipment to the separatists in eastern Ukraine who have been fighting Ukrainian government forces since April. Russia denies the claims.
More than 5,300 people have been killed in the conflict, according to a UN count. A cease-fire deal was reached in September, but both sides violated it and the fighting has risen sharply in the past two weeks.
“Everyone is aware that the first step must be the cease-fire, but that it cannot suffice. We must seek a global solution,” Mr. Hollande said in Paris before heading to Moscow.
Even getting the arms to fall silent would be a significant diplomatic breakthrough. The resurgent fighting has fuelled fears the conflict is threatening Europe’s overall security and has prompted the U.S. to consider giving lethal weapons to Ukraine, an option opposed by European nations.
The top NATO commander, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, said Thursday Russia continues to supply the separatists with heavy, state-of-theart weapons, air defences and fighters.
In Berlin, Ms. Merkel said she and Mr. Hollande would use “all our power with direct visits to Kyiv and to Moscow today to stop the bloodshed as soon as possible and to fill the Minsk agreement with life.”