Russian President Vladimir Putin faced a grilling over Russia’s role in Ukraine and Syria at talks in Berlin on Wednesday, on his first visit to the German capital since the Ukrainian conflict erupted.
Host Chancellor Angela Merkel said the talks — the first four-way summit for a year — were aimed at “offering a brutally honest assessment” of progress on implementing the frayed Minsk peace accords for Ukraine.
“Things are stalled in many areas such as the ceasefire, political issues and humanitarian issues,” she told reporters on Tuesday.
‘No progress expected’ “We have to seize every chance we have for progress. I have to say that we cannot expect a miracle but it is worth every effort at this point.” But Moscow poured cold water on hopes for headway toward a lasting resolution of the conflict.
“We do not expect any breakthroughs,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters ahead of Mr. Putin’s trip.
“I don’t expect easy talks,” admitted German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was to attend the meeting that is due to start after 6:00 pm (1600 GMT).
Moscow’s involvement in the Syrian civil war, which has deepened the diplomatic freeze, will also figure at the top of the agenda, Ms. Merkel said.
Speaking of the “disastrous” situation in the besieged city of Aleppo, Merkel said she and French President Francois Hollande would talk to Putin “about somehow alleviating people’s suffering”.
Earlier in the day, Russia warned the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq against driving jihadists from Iraq to Syria, in the offensive to recapture Mosul from the Islamic State (IS). “It is necessary not to drive terrorists from one country to the other but to destroy them on the spot,” the chief of Russia’s General Staff Valery Gerasimov said in a statement. He said Russia was focusing on “possible attempts by fighters to break out of Mosul” and “freely leave the city in the direction of Syria”.
