Ukraine crisis: No breakthrough in talks between Hollande, Merkel and Putin
Russia’s spokesman says there will be a four-way phone-call between France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine on Sunday, after Merkel and Hollande depart talks without comment
By Tom Parfitt
TelegraphUK
07 Feb 2015
Talks between the leaders of France, Germany and Russia to end the war in Ukraine ended without a breakthrough early on Saturday.
Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande, and Vladimir Putin agreed only to keep talking and to draw up a plan to halt the conflict, which has claimed more than 5,300 lives since it broke out in April.
None of the three heads of state spoke publicly after almost five hours of talks in the Senate building of the Kremlin in Moscow.
Dmitry Peskov, spokesman to Mr Putin, Russia’s president, told reporters there had been “constructive and substantial” negotiations and work was underway on a joint document for implementing the Minsk agreement – a peace deal signed in September between the warring sides in eastern Ukraine but never fulfilled. The document would include both proposals made by Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s president, and those “formulated today and added by President Putin”.
Mr Peskov said negotiations would continue by telephone on Sunday in the “Normandy format” – meaning between France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine.
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