Heads of Russia and Ukraine Putin and Poroshenko held a bilateral meeting in Minsk

In Minsk, where the EU summit - Ukraine - the Eurasian three, ended the long -awaited bilateral meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, which took place contrary to all the Kremlin’s doubts about the possibility of these negotiations and rumors about its cancellation. The meeting, which began around 22:00 in Moscow, lasted until midnight.

Negotiations of the two leaders lasted about two hours. The conversation of the presidents took place behind the doors closed to journalists, after consultations in the format of the Customs Union - Ukraine - the EU, which were held in Minsk and were devoted to the interaction of the TS countries with Kiev in the context of the signing of the Association with the EU.

According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavel Klimkin, the conversation of the leaders of the states was conducted around the implementation of the association agreement (Klimkina quotes UNIAN ).

Earlier, the head of the Kremlin’s press service Dmitry Peskov said that the meeting may be affected by the questions of the intra-Ukrainian crisis, refugee problems, issues of humanitarian aid delivery, and the humanitarian catastrophe that was generally established in the southeast of Ukraine, RIA Novosti reports.

- Putin met with Poroshenko in Minsk: the Russian Federation will cancel trade preferences to Kiev because of the Association with the EU - Ashton evaluated negotiations in Minsk as "open and positive"
- For Poroshenko, negotiations with Putin were difficult and difficult
- Putin: "Russia did not put forward some conditions. We cannot do it"
- The European Commission considers resolved the problems caused by the agreement of the EU-Ukraine

The President of Ukraine, contrary to the expectations of journalists, chose at the end of the meeting not to make any statements following the results of a meeting with Putin, and quickly headed for the exit, ITAR-TASS reports. After a meeting with Putin, Poroshenko went to the Ukrainian Embassy in Minsk. Journalists suggested that there the President of Ukraine talks to representatives of the Ukrainian media.

Meanwhile, Interfax -Ukraine reports that after a meeting with Putin, Poroshenko began negotiations with the high representative of the European Union on Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Katherine Ashton - the second one per day. Earlier, Ashton, announced that the EU proposed to begin negotiations on a truce in Ukraine.

In turn, the President of the Russian Federation, after the end of a bilateral meeting with Poroshenko, returned to the discussion of the development of the Customs Union along with the heads of Belarus and Kazakhstan. The leaders of the Troika of the Troika of the Customs Union - Vladimir Putin, Alexander Lukashenko and Nursultan Nazarbayev - continued communication. A subject conversation took place on a wide range of issues of the current agenda of the Customs Union, ”said Dmitry Peskov, spokeswoman for the head of the Russian state (ITAR -TASS quote).

Putin about negotiations with Poroshenko: "Russia did not put forward some conditions. We cannot do it"

Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed to reporters after negotiations with the President of Ukraine Peter Poroshenko that the Russian Federation and Ukraine have a "more open questions." “We have a lot of open questions, both Russia, Ukraine, our European partners are interested in their solution,” he said.

Putin said that he agreed with Poroshenko on the resumption of dialogue in energy between Russia and Ukraine. "We believe, and President Poroshenko that we need to resume our dialogue on the issue of energy, including gas problems," he said. According to him, this question is currently "at a dead end", "but you still need to talk about it."

The President of the Russian Federation said that during negotiations with the President of Ukraine, agreements were reached regarding the provision of humanitarian aid of Donetsk and Lugansk regions. “We expressed the concern of the humanitarian component,” Putin said. “But President Poroshenko does not deny the complexity of the humanitarian situation; it cannot be characterized otherwise than catastrophic.” “We agreed on how we will interact on this track; I will not run ahead, but we have certain agreements here,” Putin noted.

At the same time, according to him, he did not discuss with Poroshenko the conditions of the ceasefire in the southeast of Ukraine. “Russia cannot talk about the conditions of the ceasefire. We can only contribute to creating a confidence in,” he added. “We talked about where it was possible, about what Russia could do in order to ensure this process.” “But Russia did not put forward any conditions. We cannot do it,” the president repeated. He emphasized that the peace process is "this is the case of Ukraine itself, Donetsk, Lugansk."

The President of the Russian Federation also spoke on the topic of Russian paratroopers detained in Ukraine , Interfax reports.

“What I heard - they patrolled the border, they could be on Ukrainian territory. But they came to us, Ukrainian military personnel came on on armored vehicles. There were no problems. I hope that in this case (there would be no problems),” Putin added. He noted that earlier Ukrainian troops were on the Russian side, and the score went on dozens of people, and the last time 450 people entered Russian territory. At the same time, the president added that so far he has initial information about the incident and has not yet received a report about him from the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff.

Read more about Putin’s press conference based on the results of a bilateral meeting with Poroshenko - on the website of the President of Russia. On Wednesday night, August 27, there was a transcript of "answers to the questions of journalists based on the results of a working visit to Belarus."

For Poroshenko, negotiations with Putin were difficult and difficult

The President of Ukraine called negotiations in Minsk "complex and heavy", as reported by Reuters.

According to Poroshenko, Ukraine and the Russian Federation will begin to consult between border departments and the General Staffs of both countries in the context of the settlement of the situation in the eastern regions of Ukraine, Interfax-Ukraine reports. "We agreed that consultations of border guards will immediately begin, the purpose of which will ensure the implementation of this requirement (establishing control on the border of Ukraine and the Russian Federation)," Poroshenko told reporters following a visit to Minsk. The President of Ukraine also informed that consultations will be held between the heads of the General Staff of the two countries to ensure the determination of the peace process in the Donbass.

Poroshenko also said that as soon as possible a plan to stop the fire in the southeast of Ukraine will be prepared.

According to the Ukrainian president, the main topic of negotiations in Minsk was a peaceful settlement of the situation in the eastern regions of Ukraine. “I can say that the peaceful plan, finally, was supported by all the heads of state without exception,” he said.

Poroshenko added that an agreement was reached "that on September 6, the next consultations on energy issues will be held with the participation of European Commissioner Ettinger and fuel ministers and energy of Russia and Ukraine." The president also informed that the parties agreed to conduct consultations at the expert level on the economic consequences of creating a free trade zone between Ukraine and the EU.

The meeting of Putin and Poroshenko was the first negotiations of the presidents of the two countries. The leaders had contact in Normandy in June of this year, but then it was brief - less than 10 minutes - the conversation on the feet, with the participation of the Chancellor of Germany, Angels Merkel and France President Francois Hollande. In addition, the leaders of the Russian Federation and Ukraine communicated by phone.

In anticipation of the meeting, Ukrainian journalists distributed information that the meeting may not take place. This, in particular, said the Ukrainian portal "Details" with reference to "5 Channel". This information was also confirmed by the Russian BBC service on its Twitter , referring to the Ukrainian channel "1+1".

“We just learned that the planned meeting of Poroshenko -Putin will not take place,” the correspondent of the Ukrainian television channel said. He added, as the Russian Air Force service notes that presidents may meet in the future at another site.

Earlier, Ukrainian Pravda reported with reference to two independent sources in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia and Ukraine that the meeting may take place at the inauguration of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The ceremony will be held on August 28 in Ankara. According to the publication, the format of a possible meeting is now being worked out. It can be both bilateral and tripartite with the participation of Erdogan.

At the same time, journalist Fedor Ivanitsa said on Twitter that the bilateral meeting of Putin and Poroshenko "was about to take place, but then it turned out that the leaders went for lunch." Prior to this, RIA Novosti reported that the meeting of the presidents of Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and EU representatives lasted about four hours, and then the negotiation participants went to work lunch.

The correspondent of the AP agency Natalya Vasilieva wrote on Twitter that the Kremlin press service employee asked journalists to not disperse. Later, Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Echo of Moscow radio stations that the meeting of the presidents had not yet begun, and denied rumors about its abolition.

Russian and American experts have prepared a plan for resolving the conflict in Ukraine

On the long -awaited meeting of Putin and Poroshenko, it turned out that a group of American and Russian experts on foreign policy issues has already developed a plan for the diplomatic settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, the website of the American magazine The Atlantic reports. The meeting of Russian and Ukrainian experts, according to the Kommersant newspaper, took place on the island of Boysto in Finland in August, when exactly is unknown.

The project of initiative to resolve the conflict from the American side was signed by the managing director of the consulting company Kissinger Assotiates (company former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger) Tom Graham and Vice President of the Carnegie Foundation Andrew Vais. On the Russian side, the head of the expert group was made by the director of the Institute of World Economy and World Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Pykinin.

The Boysto Group emphasizes that he is not currently involved in current confidential contacts of the US and Russia leadership in this situation. The group considers the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, as follows from its proposals, mainly as the military conflict of the Russian Federation and Ukraine (and their structures, which are not mentioned in the text), provoked by large-scale problems in the relations of the United States and Russia.

Accordingly, they offer a decision precisely at the level of these two countries with the intended participation of Ukraine as the active side of the process. About Ukrainian separatists in the text is not mentioned. Key proposals of the Boysto Group - “The Remove of the Troops” to the agreed distance from the conflict zones, the cessation of the participation of the National Guard of Ukraine, but not its army in the conflict in the Donbass, the disarmament of armed groups in this territory under the auspices of the OSCE, the formation of a new system of law enforcement bodies there.

In the future, the group offers a set of humanitarian measures associated with the return of refugees, amnesty not involved in war crimes, with the restoration and protection of the economic infrastructure of the region. It is also provided for the restoration of mutual trade in the Russian Federation and Ukraine in the framework of the so-called in-depth and comprehensive free trade zone, as well as the inclusion of issues related to the functioning of Crimea in the negotiations of the Russian Federation-Ukraine.