Lavrov sees no chance of breakthrough on Ukraine in German minister’s visit

Germany’s foreign minister said he would assess the chances of making progress to end the crisis in Ukraine during talks in Moscow on Tuesday but Russia said it saw no chance of a breakthrough.
Violence is in the rise again in eastern Ukraine despite a more than two-month-old ceasefire, and Kiev and the West say Russia is sending in soldiers and weapons to help pro-Russian rebels in the east, a charge the Kremlin denies.
Speaking in Kiev, where he stopped off on his way to Moscow, Steinmeier said he wanted to see if talks at the weekend in Brisbane between Chancellor Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin had improved the chances of an effective ceasefire in Ukraine.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov played down the likelihood of Steinmeier’s trip having any real impact on Russian policy towards Ukraine.
«The visit is a working one. We have agreed of course to talk about Ukraine, about our bilateral relations (but) no-one is expecting any breakthrough,» Lavrov told a news conference in Minsk.
More than 4,000 people have been killed since the separatist rebellions erupted in eastern Ukraine in April.
Lavrov said Moscow would not «plead» with Western powers to lift sanctions imposed over its policies on Ukraine.
«We do not seek confrontation in relations with the EU but we will let our European partners know that sanctions are a road to nowhere,» he said in Minsk.

Продолжение здесь: IPnews

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