Friday, February 6, 2015

Putin meets Merkel, Hollande behind closed doors in Moscow

 

Published time: February 06, 2015 17:55
German Chancellor Angela Merkel gets into a car upon her arrival at Moscow's Vnukovo airport February 6, 2015. (Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin)
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French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Moscow on Friday evening. They headed straight to the Kremlin for talks on the Ukrainian crisis with President Vladimir Putin behind closed doors.
On Thursday, Hollande and Merkel held a meeting with President Petro Poroshenko in Kiev. It followed the Ukrainian leader’s talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry who arrived in Kiev to discuss the possibility of providing lethal aid to Ukraine. He said US President Obama will take the decision next week.On Saturday, US Vice President Joe Biden is set to attend the Munich Security conference, where he will present the military aid plan.
Media reports earlier suggested that Hollande and Merkel’s visit to Moscow was a snap decision made without consulting Washington. After Hollande said on Thursday that “together with Angela Merkel we have decided to take a new initiative,” French media hinted that the decision to visit Moscow came as an attempt to present a viewpoint on solving the Ukrainian crisis that differs from the US one.
READ MORE: Putin peace plan is basis of Hollande-Merkel initiative on Ukraine – reports
Le Nouvel Observateur reported that this “historic initiative” on Hollande and Merkel’s part was preceded by “secret” talks between Paris, Berlin and Moscow. The French weekly also suggested that the EU leaders are meeting Putin “to get ahead of the Americans, who are trying to impose their solution to the problem on Westerners: a transfer of weapons to Ukraine.”
READ MORE: Hollande, Merkel go to Moscow to discuss Ukraine without consulting US – report
The US will provide $1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine and a further $1 billion of economic aid later in 2015, if Kiev carries on with its reforms, Kerry said at a joint press briefing with Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk on Thursday.

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