Ukraine president-elect Petro Poroshenko (2nd L), German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin talk after a group photo during the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Benouville, France June 6, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
Putin To Meet Poroshenko As Ukraine Tensions Escalate -- Bloomberg
Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, as tensions flare on the two nations’ border.
The leaders will attend talks today with European Union representatives in Minsk, Belarus, during a summit of the Customs Union, a Russian-led trade bloc. No separate bilateral meeting is yet planned between them, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday.
The talks are bringing no respite to the conflict that the United Nations says has left at least 2,000 dead since Putin annexed Crimea in March. Ukraine yesterday said an armored column including 10 tanks entered from Russia as the government in Moscow unveiled plans to send a second convoy with humanitarian aid into its neighbor’s rebel-held territory.
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Update: Some are questioning if this meeting will even take place .... Putin, Poroshenko Possible Meeting Set in Minsk August 26 - Russian Foreign Minister (RIA Novosti)
My Comment: I do expect both leaders to meet .... but I doubt that they are going to talk about ending the civil war in eastern Ukraine. There has been little if any preparation for these talks .... and I suspect that has been little if any contact at all between both governments. What we are going to have is just a photo-op .... and a very sober photo-op at that.
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