I/II. http://news.yahoo.com/ukraines-poroshenko-says-meet-putin-italy-next-week-005032136.html Ukraine, Russia leaders to meet in a bid to rescue truce
By Sergiy Bobok with Maria Antonova in Kiev 1 hour ago Kharkiv (Ukraine) (AFP) - The Ukraine crisis and its fragile truce will be the focus of high level talks this week, culminating in a rare meeting between President Petro Poroshenko and Russia's Vladimir Putin. Poroshenko on Saturday announced he would meet the Russian president, as Kiev reported pro-Moscow rebel attacks had subsided, signalling the possibility of shoring up the bullet-ridden truce. Pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian military in the eastern Donetsk region said they have agreed to a no-shooting period, and the army announced "progress" in negotiations and readiness to pull back forces. Kiev has accused Moscow of fuelling the insurgency in Ukraine's Donetsk and Lugansk regions, including by sending regular contingents across the border which the government no longer controls. Putin and Poroshenko will meet on Friday, for the first time since August, while attending the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit in Milan, Poroshenko said on a visit to Kharkiv. "I don't expect that these will be easy negotiations," he said, adding that the talks will also include the prime ministers of Italy and Britain as well as German Chancellor Angela Merkel. View gallery Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko delivers a speech in front of a new tank at the Malyshev fa ... Poroshenko said he will discuss with Putin the peace plan and the September 5 ceasefire, and "the issue of controlling the fulfilment of the agreement", as well the gas dispute with Moscow which threatens to plunge Ukraine into a very cold winter. "We are very close to regulating the issue of the gas dispute with Russia right now," he said. "I hope that there will be considerable progress" on that. Putin and Poroshenko last met one-on-one in late August in the Belarussian capital Minsk, after which Kiev announced a truce accord with the pro-Moscow separatists, which has proven largely ineffective. Newly appointed Donetsk governor Oleksandr Kykhtenko also said the meeting will address the threat of the region's population being cut off from Kiev's support ahead of a cold winter. "There are various issues concerning education, health and social support. We cannot abandon our people and forget that we are responsible," he said, adding that he is ready to negotiate with the rebels if it will prove constructive. View gallery Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on the sidelines of the Commonwealth of Independent States ( ... Ahead of that meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry is will hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Paris on Tuesday, with Ukraine high on the agenda. Kerry warned again Wednesday that if Moscow does not withdraw its forces from eastern Ukraine more US and EU sanctions could follow. The United States and European Union have already slapped a range of sanctions on Moscow for its annexation of the southern Ukraine peninsula of Crimea, and its backing of the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. - 'No-shooting period' - In Donetsk, dozens of people have been killed in recent weeks in crossfire of long-range shelling between who rebels appear to pound the airport from residential areas, and who then blame civilian casualties on Kiev's rocket launchers replying from outside the city. View gallery Police officers wearing the uniform of the now-disbanded Ukrainian Berkut special forces stand guard ... Two more civilians were killed Saturday when a shell landed on their building, authorities in Donetsk said, adding to three deaths a day earlier. Also on Friday a border guard was killed after a Ukrainian convoy was attacked by the rebels about 20 kilometres south of Donetsk, according to the military. The United Nations has put the post-truce death toll at over 300 as both sides blame the other for violating the agreement which commits them to pulling back heavy artillery to create a 30-kilometre (18-mile) wide demilitarised zone. Alexander Zakharchenko, the "prime-minister" of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic said this week that Kiev is ready to cede several villages near the airpor,, and that the rebels have agreed to a five-day no-shooting period. The Donetsk rebels and Kiev-appointed governor Kykhtenko both announced Saturday that an agreement has been reached to stop firing starting at 9:00 am (0600 GMT). In a sign that the foes could be haggling over the specifics of withdrawal, Kiev said its officers are meeting with Russian officers and separatist representatives as part of an established contact group, but also hotly denied that it will cede any territory to the rebels. "We are ready to abide by the agreement on pulling back heavy equipment... as soon as the terrorists stop firing at our positions and residential areas," said military spokesman Andriy Lysenko. "In general there is progress in negotiations," Lysenko said, adding that the "intensity of attacks appears to have subsided". "But I have to say that we are not surrendering a single town, we are not retreating, we are staying put." II. [The following is the English translation of the ceasefire agreement (see: < http://mfa.gov.ua/en/news-feeds/foreign-offices-news/27596-protocolon-the-results-of-consultations-of-the-trilateral-contact-group-minsk-05092014>), or "Peace Plan", signed on Sept. 5 at Minsk, in Belarus. The original Russian version is here: <http://www.osce.org/home/123257?download=true <http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.osce.org%2Fhome%2F123257%3Fdownload%3Dtrue&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEUPu8OPiwX_6To0Yrl2_CEitxbqQ>>. The list of signatories is significant.] Sunday, September 07, 2014 Ukraine Ceasefire Agreement September 5, 2014 <http://ukrainetoday.blogspot.in/2014/09/ukraine-ceasefire-agreement-september-5.html> (1) Protocol of the Trilateral Contact Group - Minsk, September 5, 2014 (Original) <https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fslavyangrad.files.wordpress.com%2F2014%2F09%2Fprotocol-of-the-tripartite-liaison-group-minsk-september-5-2014-original.pdf&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGf_ArcNCjseEQvE6pEDDE05x0VGQ> (2) Link to OSCE Document Repository <http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.osce.org%2Fhome%2F123257&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGOcWaFpxkzECVXq9nqaWVnh3sIvA> *PROTOCOL* on the results of consultations of the Trilateral Contact Group with respect to the joint steps aimed at the implementation of the Peace Plan of the President of Ukraine, P. Poroshenko, and the initiatives of the President of Russia, V. Putin Upon consideration and discussion of the proposals put forward by the participants of the consultations in Minsk on September 1, 2014, the Trilateral Contact Group, consisting of the representatives of Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe [OSCE], reached an understanding with respect to the need to implement the following steps: 1. Ensure the immediate bilateral cessation of the use of weapons. 2. Ensure monitoring and verification by the OSCE of the regime of non-use of weapons. 3. Implement decentralization of power, including by means of enacting the Law of Ukraine "With respect to the temporary status of local self-government in certain areas of the Donetsk and the Lugansk regions" (Law on Special Status). 4. Ensure permanent monitoring on the Ukrainian-Russian state border and verification by the OSCE, together with the creation of a security area in the border regions of Ukraine and the Russian Federation. 5. Immediately release all hostages and unlawfully detained persons. 6. Enact a law prohibiting the prosecution and punishment of persons in connection with the events that took place in certain areas of the Donetsk and the Lugansk regions of Ukraine. 7. Conduct an inclusive national dialogue. 8. Adopt measures aimed at improving the humanitarian situation in Donbass. 9. Ensure the holding of early local elections in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "With respect to the temporary status of local self-government in certain areas of the Donetsk and the Lugansk regions" (Law on Special Status). 10. Remove unlawful military formations, military hardware, as well as militants and mercenaries from the territory of Ukraine. 11. Adopt a program for the economic revival of Donbass and the recovery of economic activity in the region. 12. Provide personal security guarantees for the participants of the consultations. *Participants of the Trilateral Contact Group:* Ambassador [OSCE] Heidi Talyavini (signed) Second President of Ukraine, L.D. Kuchma (signed) Ambassador of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, M.Y. Zurabov (signed) A.V. Zakharchenko [Donetsk People's Republic] (signed) I.V. Plotnitskiy [Luhansk People's Republic] (signed) -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
