Trilateral talks to coordinate halting Russian aggression, Poroshenko says

The main goal of the Aug. 24 trilateral talks involving German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande in Berlin is to coordinate strict measures aimed at halting Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, President Petro Poroshenko told journalists on Aug. 20. “That applies to clearly coordinated actions in counteracting aggression in the east of the country, as well as clearly coordinated steps in not recognizing the annexation of Crimea,” he said. The Aug. 24 meeting in Berlin came at Ukraine’s initiative, he said. “We are not satisfied with the failure to fulfill the key points of those requirements that the Russian side took upon itself, which are the removal of high-caliber artillery and hardware.”

Another important issue will be coordinating actions towards introducing an EU visa-free regime for Ukrainian citizens, he said. “Ukraine is supposed to report on what has been done and complete those requirements that it will have to do in the framework of the action plan,” Poroshenko said. “Steps will be taken in the fight against corruption, perfecting the judicial branch of government and reforming the national legislation to ensure the fulfillment of technical tasks that were agreed to with the EU leadership during the Ukraine-EU summit,” he said.

Zenon Zawada: It’s important for Ukraine and the EU to continue to not only coordinate their soft power measures against the Russian government, but also find new levers to pressure Moscow.

Poroshenko needs to be careful when toying with the EU visa-free regime issue. If he fails to deliver after heightened expectations, that will harm his public standing even further. On the other hand, if this breakthrough is achieved, particularly by next year, it will become among his top achievements and draw public support.