Source: The Local
France on Tuesday confirmed that the French, Russian and German leaders will hold a “working meeting” on the Syrian crisis in Berlin, in addition to discussing the ongoing conflict in Ukraine with the country’s president, Petro Poroshenko. Host Chancellor Angela Merkel said the Ukraine talks would be 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.”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.”Putin has not visited the German capital since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, sending relations with the West plunging to their lowest point since the Cold War.Russia’s involvement in the Syrian civil war, which has deepened the diplomatic freeze, will also figure at the top of the agenda, Merkel said. Speaking of the “disastrous” situation in the besieged city of Aleppo, Merkel said she and French President Francois Hollande would speak to Putin “about somehow alleviating people’s suffering”. “Here too, we cannot expect miracles but it is essential to talk, even if the views are far apart,” she said.
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