Russian, Ukrainian leaders to hold talks in Paris

The Kremlin has stepped up its Syria campaign propaganda efforts, diverting attention from Russia’s economic woes to the bombing in Syria of what Putin has called “evil-doers”, reports Bloomberg. “It is classical cheating because the promise to fight Daech (another name for the Islamic State group) was a sort of entry ticket to legalise the Russian participation in the conflict, for Assad and Russian actions aimed to destroy moderate opposition, which is the major military opponent to Assad today”.

Poroshenko’s office did not dwell on amnesty and election, two contentious issues in Ukraine, but instead said that the four leaders committed to help observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to get “unhindered access” to all areas in the east, including those sections of the Ukrainian-Russian borders which are now held by the separatists.

The fighting in eastern Ukraine has dwindled significantly in recent weeks, but tensions remain over the final status of the rebel regions.

Moscow denies this, but admits Russian “volunteers” are fighting with the rebels.

His country is still hopelessly corrupt and gripped with infighting among oligarch clans, despite the government having created no fewer than five new anti-corruption bodies.

Last week the OSCE said it had spotted a new kind of Russian weapons system in rebel-held territory, possible evidence of Moscow’s continued interest in Ukraine even as it focuses on Syria. The ministry was not immediately available to comment on the apparent discrepancy with the earlier figures.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a drone carried out strikes on an IS-run camp near Raqqa on Friday.

Syrian activists say warplanes believed to be Russians have attacked a central town that was recently captured by the Islamic State group.

It is key, in trying to understand Putin, to see, behind all his talk of global law, a deeply ingrained desire to cast Russian Federation as a re-emerging superpower able to set conditions on other players, first and foremost the US.

“We don’t associate the question of Syria with Minsk”, Ms. Merkel said.

Hollande and Putin both looked stern at their talks in Paris, exchanging terse handshakes for the cameras.

“We said very clearly that Daesh is the enemy that should be targeted”, Merkel said, using an alternative name for Islamic State.

Hollande said after the summit that “we want that local elections can be organized under Ukrainian election law… which means the elections of October. 18 cannot be held”.

Friday’s talks in Paris aren’t officially about Syria though it’s on everyone’s minds.

De Mistura traveled to Syria last month to win President Bashar al-Assad’s support for the new plan, the latest bid by the United Nations to lay the groundwork for peace after two failed attempts. One worrying signal came from Germany’s vice-chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, who indicated that European Union sanctions against Russian Federation would have to be lifted for diplomacy to progress on Syria. Prioritising civilians isn’t only necessary for humanitarian reasons – it is a topic that will make things slightly less comfortable for Russian Federation: its “anti-terrorist” wars in Chechnya are a dismal legacy that should be recalled.

Poroshenko has previously said that separate elections conducted by the rebels in eastern Ukraine would be a “red line” that Kyiv could not accept.