West presses Russia to bring Ukraine's rebels to negotiating table

Germany and France have urged Russian president Vladimir Putin to persuade Ukraine’s rebels to negotiate with the country’s government, as Kiev insisted that it would call a fresh ceasefire if the militants met certain demands.

President François Hollande’s office said he and Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to Mr Putin by telephone yesterday and asked him to back renewed talks on Ukraine by tomorrow, at which “conditions for the ceasefire”, could be decided.

Brokers for peace

The negotiations would involve leaders of the pro-Moscow rebels, Russia’s ambassador to Kiev, former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma and representatives of the 57-state Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

“To this end, they have asked President Putin to intervene with the separatists to lead them to negotiate and to find an agreement with the Ukrainian authorities,” Mr Hollande’s office added.

Fighting between government forces and militants continued in eastern Ukraine yesterday, after Kiev declined to extend a 10-day ceasefire on Monday, saying rebels had killed and injured dozens of servicemen during that time.

Separatist leaders said Ukraine’s military also failed to observe the ceasefire, and the sides blame each other for killing civilians with heavy weaponry as they struggle for control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which border Russia.

Kiev and its western allies accuse Moscow of allowing fighters with modern weapons to cross into Ukraine to reinforce the rebels, who want to join Russia and have repeatedly appealed to Mr Putin for assistance.

Russia admits that it has some influence with the separatists, but foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday that his “western colleagues” must play the “key role” in convincing Kiev to call and adhere to a new truce.

“This refers to the meeting as soon as possible of the contact group to agree on a bilateral basis a durable, lasting ceasefire, agreed between the two parties and not on a unilateral basis,” he said.

Conditions for ceasefire

Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko named a new defence minister and military chief of staff yesterday, and told US vice president Joe Biden he would call another ceasefire on certain conditions.

Mr Poroshenko says the rebels must also agree to halt all attacks, to release all prisoners, and allow Ukrainian forces to retake control of Ukraine’s border with Russia, which OSCE observers would then monitor.

The US and the EU have threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia if it continues its alleged destabilisation of Ukraine.