- Title: UKRAINE-CRISIS/STEINMEIER Germany's Steinmeier hosts Ukraine meeting in Berlin
- Date: 12th September 2015
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (SEPTEMBER 12, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** EXTERIOR OF THE GUEST HOUSE OF GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTRY, VILLA BORSIG, WITH MEDIA WAITING OUTSIDE VARIOUS OF GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER HOLDING BILATERAL TALKS WITH HIS RUSSIAN COUNTERPART SERGEY LAVROV STEINMEIER ARRIVING FOR STATEMENT REPORTER LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER, SAYING: "We hope to achieve that Ukraine and Russia will stabilise the ceasefire long-term. We would like to talk about details of withdrawing heavy weapons and also light weapons of caliber less than 100 millimeters, but also about the question of better access for OSCE observers." REPORTERS LISTENING STEINMEIER LEAVING CAMERAS STEINMEIER TALKING WITH UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER PAVLO KLIMKIN AND FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER LAURENT FABIUS LAVROV ARRIVING SHAKING HANDS WITH KLIMKIN/FOREIGN MINISTERS POSING FOR FAMILY PHOTO AND LEAVING VARIOUS OF FOREIGN MINISTERS SEATED AT ROUND TABLE ROUND TABLE DISCUSSIONS IN PROGRESS/DOOR CLOSING
- Embargoed: 27th September 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAD7693Q334TI1B6J0GJWZEEIPS
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomed his counterparts from Ukraine, Russia and France for talks at the Villa Borsig in Berlin on Saturday (September 12).
"We hope to achieve that Ukraine and Russia will stabilise the ceasefire long-term. We would like to talk about details of withdrawing heavy weapons and also light weapons of caliber less than 100 millimeters, but also about the question of better access for OSCE observers," Steinmeier told reporters outside the Foreign Ministery's guesthouse ahead of the meeting.
On Wednesday (September 9) the Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko would meet along with the French and German leaders in Paris early in October to further discuss efforts to resolve the Ukrainian conflict.
The violence has mostly subsided since Sept. 1, when the Ukrainian parliament backed giving more autonomy to rebel-held areas, in line with a peace deal.
A summit on Ukraine last took place in February in Minsk, where steps were agreed to stop the conflict, which flared up last year after Ukraine's pro-Moscow president fled following street protests in Kiev.
The Kremlin said that Putin stressed the need for a direct dialogue between the central government and Ukraine's rebel-held Donbass region.
Fighting between Ukrainian government forces and the separatists in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions has killed almost 8,000 people since it burst out in mid-April 2014. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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