Ukraine crisis: Russia's Vladimir Putin shakes
hands with Petro Poroshenko as pair discuss de-escalation of crisis, and has
brief exchange with US president Barack Obama
Russian
President Vladimir Putin (R) meets Ukraine's President-elect Petro Poroshenko
under Angela Merkel's watchful eye Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP
By Colin
Freeman and agencies
Russia
signalled the first signs of a detente in its conflict with Ukraine on Friday,
as President Vladimir Putin met Ukraine's new leader-elect and called for an
end to fighting on both sides.
While
attending commemorations of the D-Day landings in France, Mr Putin held what
aides described as a brief but significant meeting with Petro Poroshenko, the
victor of last month's Ukrainian presidential elections.
The
encounter, which took place on the sidelines of ceremonies to celebrate the
70th anniversary of the Normandy D-Day landings, was the first time the two men
had met since Moscow annexed Crimea, where Mr Poroshenko was chased by an angry
pro-Russian mob in February.
"In
a brief conversation, both Putin and Poroshenko called for a speedy end to the
bloodshed in southeastern Ukraine as well as to fighting on both sides - by the
Ukrainian armed forces as well as by supporters of the federalisation of
Ukraine," said Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, in comments cited by
Russia's RIA Novosti news agency.
"They
also confirmed that there was no alternative to resolving the situation with
peaceful political methods."
It
followed a warning on Thursday from Barack Obama, the US president, that if
Russia failed to recognise Mr Poroshenko as Ukraine's new leader, it could face
further sanctions on top of those already placed on the Kremlin for annexing
Crimea.
"If
he does not, if he continues a strategy of undermining the sovereignty of
Ukraine, then we have no choice but to respond" Mr Obama said.
Friday's
exchange came during a lunch hosted by French President Francois Hollande in
Benouville, attended by leaders from around the world.
Mr
Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, added: "Putin and Obama spoke for the need
to end violence and fighting as quickly as possible." There was no
discussion of rolling back Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian region of
Crimea, which the West says was illegal.
In
remarks that seemed calculated to add to the mood of reconciliation, both David
Cameron and Mr Hollande used the D-Day occasion to stress the role played by
Russia in liberating Europe from Nazi tyranny.
Mr
Cameron said: "Yes, of course we have our disagreements today with Russia,
but we should never forget that Russia - the Soviet Union - was an ally of
Britain and America, the Free French, Canadian and Australian forces, that
liberated this continent from the tyranny of Nazism."
Mr
Hollande, meanwhile, paid tribute to the "courage of the Red Army"
and the "decisive contribution" of the former Soviet Union in winning
World War II.
Mr
Cameron became the first Western leader to hold face-to-face talks with Mr
Putin since the Ukraine crisis began when they met in Paris on Thursday night.
Outside
the building where world leaders met for lunch, reporters saw an animated
conversation lasting about one minute which also included German Chancellor
Angela Merkel, who at a much more public commemoration at Sword Beach appeared
to be shuttling back and forth between Mr Putin and Mr Poroshenko.
The
meeting came, however, as violence continued unabated in eastern Ukraine, where
more than 180 people have died in clashes between pro-Russian separatists and
Kiev loyalists in the last two months. Unconfirmed reports from Russian media
on Friday spoke of Ukrainian government tanks being deployed in eastern city of
Slavyansk, the centre of much of the recent trouble.
Pro-Russian
separatists operating from the grounds of a church in Slavyansk also killed a
member of the Ukrainian interior ministry's special forces and seriously
wounded two others in a mortar attack on Friday, Ukrainian officials said.
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