February 8, 2015 6:47 pm
Merkel to meet Obama over Ukraine
Stefan Wagstyl in Munich
Angela Merkel is to meet President Barack Obama in Washington on Monday in a bid to SECURE a diplomatic solution to the escalating Ukraine crisis amid calls for the US administration to arm Kiev.
The German chancellor’s visit comes after the latest round of talks between France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia failed to result in a peace accord at the weekend.
Adamantly opposed to arming Ukraine, Ms Merkel is putting huge efforts into bringing Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.
In a four-way phone call on Sunday, Mr Putin and Ms Merkel, together with French President François Hollande and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, agreed to meet on Wednesday in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. Talks have taken on new urgency following the collapse of September’s ceasefire agreement as Russian-backed rebels seize government-controlled areas in eastern Ukraine.
The Washington meeting comes as attitudes appear to be hardening in the US, where several senior politicians have demanded that Mr Obama take a more forceful stance to reverse these gains.
“I think most in the US Congress would like to see all of us participate in defensively arming Ukraine,” said Bob Corker, chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, at the weekend.
Republican senators Lyndsey Graham and John McCain have been critical of Ms Merkel’s resistance to sending heavy weapons to Kiev to bolster its defences.
“The Ukrainians are being slaughtered and we’re sending them blankets and meals,” Mr McCain said at the Munich security Conference. “Blankets don’t do well against Russian tanks.”
Joe Biden, vice-president, last week also scorned Ms Merkel’s diplomatic bid, saying Mr Putin did not stick to agreements.
John Kerry, US secretary of state, sought to play down fears that the transatlantic consensus on Ukraine was fracturing as a result of the arms debate.
“We are united. We will remain united,” Mr Kerry told the Munich conference, comparing the arguments to last year’s bargaining over economic sanctions.
However in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, he added that Russia was leaving the global community with no other choice but to impose additional economic sanctions.
Ms Merkel has been implacable in opposing the delivery of arms and the chancellor’s speech to the Munich conference at the weekend was laced with references to the second world war. On Sunday her position was defended by her foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “I don’t believe our scepticism [in supplying arms] is born of cowardice or from our history,” he said.
Mr Obama, who last year blocked deliveries, has not yet revealed his hand. He is expected to listen to Ms Merkel’s arguments but is not likely to decide while she is in the US. European diplomats say he will wait to see what happens in Minsk.
The diplomatic initiative centres on the September Minsk agreement, which declared a demarcation line to separate government-controlled areas from rebel held territory. The Minsk talks will include amendments to reflect the extra territory won in recent months by the separatists.
Kiev is concerned that any new pact should not undermine its sovereignty by legitimising separatist control of eastern Ukraine. US officials are also worried.
On Sunday the US state department warned in a statement that any agreement reached in Minsk “must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
A Russian government source said among the most difficult points was how a ceasefire should be supervised. “It is felt that the past attempts have not worked, but the challenge is to create a mechanism that all sides feel is fair and impartial,” he said.
Additional reporting by Gina Chon in Washington and Kathrin Hille in Moscow (FT)
