Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko have officially confirmed their participation in the evening round of negotiations in Minsk today, during which, as expected, new agreements are likely to be reached on the cessation of the armed confrontation in the Donbass.
Reuters, citing a diplomatic source in Russia, said that a peace agreement that will satisfy all parties will be concluded with a probability of 70%, as "the presidents are not coming for no reason."
On the eve of the talks, 'Vestnik Kavkaza' asked experts about their expectations of the meeting between Putin, Merkel, Hollande and Poroshenko in the capital of Belarus.
Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Relations, senator from the Ryazan region Igor Morozov, believes that the EU's interest in ending the conflict with Russia, in the first place, allows us to expect results. "It's the nuances that matter. The question is where the line of contact will be held: from the letter and agreements of last September, or on the actual state of affairs today? I think that after the September talks the Ukrainian armed forces have violated the very essence and spirit of the agreements so many times that the line of contact should be made on the current delimitation of troops. I also think that to determine the status of Donbass they must register a confederal state structure with its own government, independent economic and social policy of eastern Ukraine. I think that's the most important question," Igor Morozov said.
The member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, Sergey Markov, believes that an agreement on tactical truce will be an outcome of the diplomatic summit in Minsk. "Of course, if the US will not derail the whole process in the last minute," Sergey Markov said.
But Political analyst Alexei Poltorakov does not expect any significant results. "The parts won't agree on anything really serious. If they will be able to agree on something, the agreements will be rather technical, for example, the parties will confirme the desire to establish a ceasefire. The problem of mutual distrust is still not removed : the West does not trust the Russian political and diplomatic guarantees, and Russia does not want to give the military-political guarantees. Therefore, as I see it, the parties will agree to negotiate once again and nothing more," Alexey Poltorakov said.
