Germany’s minister shuttles between Moscow, Kyiv


Related

  • U.S. European Command has ordered troops to refrain from wearing uniforms off base except when they are commuting to work in their personal cars or on base buses.

  • Ukraine risks sliding back into fighting between government troops and separatist rebels, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned.

  • Germany’s defense minister emphasized the importance of personal contacts in fostering closer ties with the U.S. during a reception honoring German and U.S. servicemembers.

  • On the night of Nov. 9, 1989, thousands of Germans swarmed along both sides of the Berlin Wall — opened under massive public pressure by an East German leadership that realized its days were numbered. Within a year, the East German communists were gone. Germany was a reunited country again.

  • U.S. lawmakers are again urging France to renege on selling two warships to Russia, proposing that NATO buy or lease the ships instead.

KYIV, Ukraine — Germany’s foreign minister on Tuesday urged the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian separatists to respect their cease-fire agreement, which has helped to halt ground combat but failed to stop daily artillery exchanges.

The continuing military conflict in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 4,000 people and displaced a million, according to the U.N. The accords signed on Sept. 5 in Minsk froze the position of front lines between the sides although heavy artillery fire is still killing civilians and combatants daily.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is shuttling between Kyiv and Moscow on Tuesday in a bid to ease tensions, told reporters in Kyiv that both sides should stick to the Minsk accords however imperfect they are.

“Minsk wasn’t perfect. And we all know that Minsk was broken,” Steinmeier said. “But Minsk remains a reference point, and that’s why I call for us to keep working on the implementation of the Minsk protocol.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday accused Russia of undermining peace across Europe, warning that regional conflicts like in eastern Ukraine could cause disturbances in other post-Soviet countries.

Dozens of armored trucks, artillery and tanks were spotted in rebel-held areas in the past couple of weeks, fueling fears that hostilities could resume soon.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday said that inside Ukraine and on the Russian side of the border, “we see the movement of troops, of equipment, of tanks, of artillery, and also advanced air-defense systems.”

“And this is a violation of the cease-fire agreements and we call on Russia to pull back its forces from eastern Ukraine and to respect the Minsk agreements,” he told reporters.

Stoltenberg was meeting Tuesday with defense ministers of the 28-member European Union.

___

John-Thor Dahlburg in Brussels and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.
 

Open all references in tabs: [1 – 5]