Merkel downbeat as world awaits Putin’s response to latest Ukraine peace plan - The Guardian

German chancellor ‘disappointed’ by Russian attitude but says proposal for demilitarised zone to end conflict is ‘worth trying’

Vladimir Putin is expected to give his response on Sunday to the Franco-German plan for a Ukrainian ceasefire, enforced with the creation of a demilitarised zone along the frontlines.

The plan, according to the French president, François Hollande, proposes a buffer zone of 50km to 70km and requires Russian-backed separatists to withdraw to ceasefire lines that were agreed in Minsk in September. In return, the eastern provinces would be given greater autonomy.

Angela Merkel, who travelled with Hollande to Moscow on Friday evening to set out their proposal, was downbeat about its prospects on Saturday. The German chancellor told the annual Munich Security Conference: “It is uncertain whether it will lead to success but, from my point of view and that of the French president, it is definitely worth trying.”

She conceded that it was “disappointing” that Russia had failed to abide by the Minsk agreement. On Russian guarantees, she admitted “the experience has not been good” but added: “The answer to this can’t be not to enter any agreements at all. Of course we have to try again and again.”

Also speaking at Munich, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said he hoped the latest diplomatic drive would “produce results, and those results will be supported by the parties to this conflict”.

Hollande and Merkel are expected to speak by video link on Sunday to Putin as well as to Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko in what Hollande portrayed as a last-ditch bid to contain the conflict, in which 5,300 people have so far died. “If we don’t manage to find not just a compromise but a lasting peace agreement, we know perfectly well what the scenario will be. It has a name, it’s called war,” he told reporters in the city of Tulle in central France. Read More at Merkel downbeat as world awaits Putin’s response