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Today on New Cold War.org Introduction by New Cold War.org. editors, February 12, 2015: Yesterday, the ministers of foreign affairs of Greece and Russia, Nikos Kotzias and Sergei Lavrov, met in Moscow. Their talks were wide-ranging, covering the war in Ukraine, the sanctions against Russia by NATO and EU countries, and proposals for economic and political cooperation between the two countries. Enclosed are two items reporting on that meeting. One is the Reuters news report. The other is the text of the comments by Sergei Lavrov to media following the meeting. Their meeting took place on the same day as talks over the war in Ukraine occurred in Minsk, Belarus. Those talks have produced another ceasefire agreement which, as in the previous one last September, provides for a 'buffer zone' between the Ukraine military and its extremist battalions, on the one hand, and the civilian populations in Donetsk and Luhansk republics they have been shelling and attacking, on the other. There is no agreement by Kyiv that it will recognize a right to political autonomy (ie decentralization of Ukraine's highly centralized state) of the the regions in eastern Ukraine and elsewhere in the country that are demanding it or that it will withdraw from the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk that it occupies. And the Kyiv government does not control the extremist militia battalions that it has welcomed into its military fold. So the prospects for peace remain dim. * * * Russia's Lavrov praises Greece's stance on sanctions, Reuters, Feb 11, 2015 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions at a joint news conference following talks with Foreign Minister of the Hellenic Republic Nikos Kotzias, Moscow, February 11, 2015, published by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs See also: NATO admits there is no large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Reuters, Feb. 5, 2015 U.S. army to start training Ukrainian troops, commander says, Associated Press, Feb 11, 2015 _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
