>”Europe will make its utmost efforts in all fora [to de-escalate tensions], either in the Normandy format, where France and Germany will press on to ensure that the Minsk Agreements are met.
This is potentiality very important. Back in the day Germany and France got a bollocking from the US (supported strongly by the EU) for joining Russia in being co-signatories to the Minsk Agreement. The idea of Minsk was that Russia would push the rebels to the negotiating table, while France and Germany would push Kiev to the table, but after the bollocking the French and Germans went 100% silent on the whole Minsk deal. Now they’ve suddenly started to openly talk about it again and are visiting Ukraine with specific reference to the Minsk deal.
This sudden change of policy in France and Germany occurred suspiciously close to the recent US/Russia talks, and I’m guessing that one of the outcomes is that the US has agreed to allow negotiations between Kiev and the rebel regions.
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>”Europe will make its utmost efforts in all fora [to de-escalate tensions], either in the Normandy format, where France and Germany will press on to ensure that the Minsk Agreements are met.
This is potentiality very important. Back in the day Germany and France got a bollocking from the US (supported strongly by the EU) for joining Russia in being co-signatories to the Minsk Agreement. The idea of Minsk was that Russia would push the rebels to the negotiating table, while France and Germany would push Kiev to the table, but after the bollocking the French and Germans went 100% silent on the whole Minsk deal. Now they’ve suddenly started to openly talk about it again and are visiting Ukraine with specific reference to the Minsk deal.
This sudden change of policy in France and Germany occurred suspiciously close to the recent US/Russia talks, and I’m guessing that one of the outcomes is that the US has agreed to allow negotiations between Kiev and the rebel regions.