Merkel gives Putin until Feb. 11 to compromise on Ukraine, reports say

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has given Russian President Vladimir Putin until Wednesday to agree to a “road map” to conclude military action in eastern Ukraine, reported the Wall Street Journal on Feb. 9, citing high-placed Western sources. The Russian government risks incurring new sanctions against Russian companies, including possible asset freezes against defense and financial firms, if it doesn’t offer concessions and blocks an agreement, Merkel reportedly said. Although Merkel publicly has voiced her opposition to supplying arms to Ukraine, she reportedly told Putin privately that she won’t oppose U.S. President Barack Obama if he supplies lethal weapons. In response to the report, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a Russian radio program on Feb. 9 that “no one ever communicated nor can’t – in spite of every desire – communicate with the president in the tone of ultimatums.”

The EU Foreign Ministers Council decided on Feb. 9 to impose visa bans on 19 more Russian authorities and freeze the bank accounts of nine more Russian companies, reported on Feb. 10 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The sanctions will be implemented on Feb. 16. Ukrainian diplomats achieved a compromise on the sanctions after some EU member-states were preparing to block the new round, which would have required only one opposing vote, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Dmytro Kuleba told Yevropeyska Pravda, a Ukrainian news site. “We didn’t ask the EU to hold off on sanctions but the opposite,” he said. “We convinced our colleagues of the need to decide today to expand sanctions, even if they’re delayed. Some EU ministers favored not approving new sanctions against Russia until the Minsk negotiations occur. (Ukrainian Foreign) Minister (Pavlo) Klimkin held several telephone conversations, convincing his colleagues that such a decision would be counterproductive.”

The Feb. 9 negotiations in Berlin involving French, German, Russian and Ukrainian diplomats to prepare for the Feb. 11 Minsk summit concluded with “some tangible results,” tweeted afterwards Andriy Melnyk, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany. German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier said he has doubts on whether the Minsk summit will occur as planned on Feb. 11, reported rp-online.de on Feb. 9. Holding the summit requires “very much work,” he said. Germany and its partners are “making all efforts” to make it possible, he said. If these efforts don’t produce results, “then the conflict will enter a new level in terms of the military,” Steinmeier said, as reported by the dw.de website.

The conflict in Ukraine will continue for as long as the Ukrainian government fails to reach an agreement with the separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Russian President Putin said in an interview with an Egyptian newspaper, as reported by the Russian Presidential Administration website on Feb. 9. “Obviously, the crisis will last as long as Ukrainians themselves don’t reach an agreement among each other,” Putin said, stressing that he supports steady, direct contact between the Kyiv and Luhansk and Donetsk “governments” within the context of the Trilateral Contact Group. What’s needed is “the Kyiv government to hear its people, find common ground and reach agreement with all political forces and regions of the country, and create that form of constitutional order in the state under which it would be safe and comfortable for all citizens to live under, fully upholding human rights.”

Zenon Zawada: As we’ve stated, we don’t expect Putin to make the concessions necessary to end the conflict on a long-term basis. We view any compromise reached tomorrow (if the meeting happens at all) as a temporary measure to appease European pressure that can easily be reneged in the future. The decision to expand sanctions ahead of the meeting was very important.

In his interview, Putin continues to embrace a cynical view of the conflict that distorts reality and mocks all the objective evidence gathered. If not for Russian involvement, the conflict in eastern Ukraine would have been resolved in August last year. Instead, Putin has emerged as among the greatest threats to global stability and peace.