Stalemate At Minsk Summit And Eurogroup Meeting Suggests Tensions In Europe And Globally Are Set To Escalate
By: GoldCore
GoldSeek.com
Thursday, 12 February 2015
– Diplomats best hopes for Minsk is for freeze in hostilities
– Russia engages the U.S. in war of words as tensions mount
– Greece and EU buy time – no agreement thus far
– Anti-austerity parties in Spain and Greece may bring down the euro
The Minsk Summit which was called at the urgent behest of Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande seems not to have yielded any tangible outcome despite the high stakes on all sides.
Media reports present little new information regarding the talks which ran through the night. The Guardian reports that President Putin confirmed a ceasefire agreement has been reached which would come into effect on Sunday.
Ukraine’s Poroshenko denied an agreement had reached, insisting that some of Russia’s demands were “unacceptable”.
While a ceasefire, if it does transpire, will bring much relief to the people of East Ukraine it is unlikely to last without a real political solution. The Pro-Russian rebels do not trust Poroshenko.
The Donetsk and Luhansk regions – which are inhabited predominantly by ethnic Russians – voted to secede from Ukraine following the overthrow of former, pro-Russian, Prime Minister Yanukovich last year.
As such, the rebels do not recognize Poroshenko as the leader of Ukraine and reject a return to the Ukrainian state in it’s current form. They are apparently willing to return as part of a federalized Ukraine which would limit the power of both Kiev and Moscow which seems reasonable.
However, for the moment, the most that can be hoped for is a “freezing” of hostilities according to the BBC.
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