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UPDATE 1-No sign of breakthrough as Russia, Ukraine meet in Milan
(Adds Putin/Merkel talks, main meeting starting)
By Andreas Rinke and Crispian Balmer
MILAN Oct 17 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin
and Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko met an array of EU leaders
on Friday, but there was little sign of progress in patching up
a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine and resolving a dispute over
natural gas supplies.
Putin held more than 2-1/2 hours of talks with German
Chancellor Angela Merkel overnight. The Kremlin said afterwards
the pair were still at odds over how to resolve a crisis that
has revived the spectre of old Cold War rivalries.
“The two leaders continued to express serious differences in
views on the source of Ukraine’s domestic conflict, as well as
root causes for what is happening there today,” the Kremlin said
in a statement.
The West has imposed sanctions on Russia for its annexation
of Crimea earlier this year and its support of pro-Russian
separatists fighting in the east of Ukraine.
European leaders in Milan for a EU-Asia summit, urged Russia
to do more to end constant, deadly violations of a ceasefire
that was agreed by Putin and Poroshenko last month in Minsk.
“It is obviously above all Russia’s task to make clear that
the Minsk plan is adhered to,” Merkel told reporters on
Thursday. “Unfortunately, there are still a lot of shortcomings
but it will be important to look for a dialogue here.”
Europe fears Russia’s decision to cut gas supplies to
Ukraine because of unpaid bills could threaten disruptions in
the gas flow to the rest of the continent this winter and is
working hard to broker a deal.
Russia is Europe’s biggest gas supplier, meeting around a
third of demand, and the European Union gets about half of the
Russian gas it uses via Ukraine.
The stand-off over pricing is the third in a decade between
Moscow and Kiev, though this time tensions are higher because of
the fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Kiev and its Western backers accuse Moscow of aiding a
pro-Russian separatist revolt in eastern Ukraine by providing
troops and arms. Russia denies the charges but says it has a
right to defend the interests of the region’s Russian-speaking
majority.
Taking the lead in the Milan diplomacy, Merkel saw
Poroshenko on Thursday evening. “The meeting went very well and
we have seen a great demonstration of support for Ukraine,” the
Ukrainian president told reporters afterwards.
The German leader then met Putin until well after midnight.
Speaking off the record, a German official said the pair had
discussed implementation of the Minsk accord, telling Putin that
Russia had to meet its commitments to enable a de-escalation.
Italian radio said that afterwards, Putin attended a party
thrown by his friend — the former Italian Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi. He didn’t leave until after 3.00 a.m. (0100 GMT) but
looked sprightly as he arrived for Friday’s talks at 8.00 am.
Putin warned on Thursday that Russia will reduce gas
supplies to Europe if Ukraine steals from the transit pipeline
to cover its own needs, although he added that he was “hopeful”
it would not come to that.
“I can reassure you that there will be no crisis that could
be blamed on Russian participants in energy cooperation,” Putin
told reporters during a visit to Serbia. But, he said, “there
are big transit risks.”
Germany is Europe’s biggest buyer of Russian gas, paying
Russian exporter Gazprom around $15 billion a year. EU
members such as Bulgaria and Slovakia are almost entirely
reliant on Russian gas imported via Ukraine.
Vygaudas Usackas, the EU’s ambassador to Russia, said
earlier this week there were “positive signs” that a deal might
be within reach.
“It seems like we are entering a more promising and positive
chapter of the whole puzzle about the crisis in and around
Ukraine,” he told Reuters.
However, it was not clear how much progress might be made in
finding a lasting answer to the eastern Ukraine conflict.
More than 3,600 people have died in the area since fighting
broke out in mid-April when armed separatists declared they were
setting up their own state.
Although Putin announced this week that Russian troops near
the border with Ukraine would be pulled back, Western officials
want to see clear evidence that Moscow is acting on this.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi hosted Friday’s meeting,
which was also attended by Merkel, French President Francois
Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron as well as
Herman Van Rompuy, the chairman of European Union leaders.
(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau and James Mackenzie
in Milan, Alexei Anishchuk in Moscow and Pavel Polityuk in Kiev;
Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
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