OUISTREHAM, France (AP) — Russian President Vladimir
Putin spoke face-to-face with Ukraine’s incoming president about ending
the violence in the former Soviet state, and Kiev’s new leader said
talks could begin in earnest as soon as Sunday — a diplomatic
breakthrough playing out along the battlefield beaches of Normandy.
Friday’s
15-minute meeting was followed by a brief exchange between Putin and
President Barack Obama, who had been keeping the Russian at arm’s length
over the Ukrainian crisis. Tensions between the two were played out on
giant televisions on Ouistreham’s Sword Beach, with Putin and Obama
shown divided by a split screens as they commemorated the 70th
anniversary of D-Day.
Speaking after his meeting with Petro
Poroshenko — who is to be sworn in Saturday as Ukraine’s president —
Putin called for an immediate cease-fire in eastern Ukraine before any
further talks, and said he expected Poroshenko to show "state wisdom"
and "good will." Poroshenko later said talks could begin in earnest on
his first full day in office.
"All the questions were difficult,"
Poroshenko said in a statement to The Associated Press before returning
to Ukraine, "but we will make every effort to achieve the goals we have
set ourselves and begin negotiations on Sunday."
Putin said he
welcomed Poroshenko’s call for an end to the bloodshed and liked his
approach to settling the crisis but wanted to wait until the Ukrainian
leader could deliver it in detail to the nation.
"If it continues
like that, then conditions will be created for developing our relations
in other areas, including the economy," Putin said. He specified that
Moscow is ready to lower gas price for Ukraine if it pays off its debt
for previous supplies, easing fears of a gas shutdown to Europe
dependent upon gas pipelines that cross Ukraine.
French President
Francois Hollande, who orchestrated the meeting along with German
Chancellor Angela Merkel, said Putin and Poroshenko also discussed how
Russia could recognize the Ukrainian elections as well as measures to
de-escalate the fighting.
"It didn’t last a long time but long enough for the message to be passed on," Hollande told the
French network TF1.
Putin’s
spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin and Poroshenko also "confirmed
that there is no alternative to settling the situation by peaceful
political means."
Frozen out of G-7 talks Thursday in Brussels,
Putin appeared to be moving incrementally back into the fold of the West
following his first direct talks with Poroshenko since the billionaire
was elected to lead Ukraine. The previous pro-Kremlin president, Viktor
Yanukovych, was ousted in what Putin said was a coup.
Russia,
which had recalled its ambassador from Ukraine, said he will return to
Kiev to attend Poroshenko’s inauguration. That appeared to be a
recognition of Ukraine’s election, Hollande said.
Outside the
building where world leaders met for lunch, reporters saw another
animated conversation between Putin and Poroshenko lasting about a
minute. That conversation also included Merkel, who at a much more
public commemoration at Sword Beach appeared to shuttle between the men.
A
senior U.S. administration official, who was not authorized to discuss
the meeting on the record, said the possibility of arranging a meeting
between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders gained traction at the G-7
meeting with the objective for Russia to hear the same message from "all
of the allies."
The official said Russia also bore responsibilities in any cease-fire.
"It
would have to be mutual. It’s not on one party to have a cease-fire. It
takes not just Ukraine, but also Russia," the official said.
In
recent weeks, Ukrainian officials say more than 200 people have died — a
figure that could not be independently confirmed — in fighting between
Ukrainian government troops and pro-Russian separatists in eastern
Ukraine. The insurgents declared their regions independent and have
asked to join Russia, but the Kremlin has ignored their appeal.
Putin
has denied allegations by Kiev and the West that Russia has fomented
the rebellion, and he insisted Friday that Poroshenko needs to speak
directly to representatives from the east. He didn’t say if Moscow was
prepared to take any action to persuade the insurgents to stop fighting
Ukraine’s government troops.
"It’s not Russia and Ukraine that need to be parties to the negotiations, as Russia isn’t a party to
the conflict," he said.
Poroshenko
said in a statement that he expects the Russian parliament to rescind
its decision granting Putin permission to use the military on the
territory of Ukraine and also wants a joint action plan on sealing the
Russian-Ukrainian border.
Poroshenko has promised a comprehensive
plan to put an end to the hostilities as soon as he takes office,
including an amnesty to the rebels and an offer of early regional
elections in the east.
Putin held his first face-to-face meetings
with Western leaders in France this week since pro-European protesters
in Kiev pushed out Yanukovych in February, Russia annexed the Crimean
Peninsula, and the U.S. and European Union imposed sanctions in
response.
In Putin’s private conversation with Merkel, German
government spokesman Christiane Wirtz said the chancellor "took the
opportunity to remind Russia again of its great responsibility" and said
that following Poroshenko’s election, the priority needs to be a
"stabilization of the situation, in particular in eastern Ukraine."
On
Thursday, Obama and Western allies opened a pathway for Russia to ease
tensions in Ukraine but pointedly warned Moscow it could face new
sanctions within weeks if Putin fails to go along. The leaders said he
could avoid tougher penalties in part by recognizing the legitimacy of
the new Ukrainian government and ending support for the insurgency.
There was no mention of rolling back Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
Obama,
who said he has a "businesslike" relationship with Putin, expressed
hope that the Russian leader is "moving in a new direction" on Ukraine
by not denouncing Poroshenko’s May 25 election. "But I think we have to
see what he does and not what he says," Obama said.
The
anniversary of the D-Day invasion in 1944 — a time when the U.S.,
Britain and Russia were allied against Nazi Germany — marked the best
opportunity for the leaders to meet since the crisis in Ukraine began.
Merkel’s key role appeared to endure through the ceremony in Ouistreham,
in an extraordinarily symbolic sign of Germany’s changed role in
Europe.
At least 15 pro-Russian rebels were killed Thursday in
clashes with government troops at a Ukrainian border crossing with
Russia, an aide to Ukraine’s interior minister said.
Speaking on a
TV show, Anton Herashchenko said armed men came from Russia in trucks
and an infantry vehicle and tried to cross the border at the village of
Marynivka and were supported by 100 rebels from the Ukrainian side. His
report of casualties could not be confirmed independently.
Following
the clash, Ukraine’s government ordered the closing of parts of the
border with Russia, including the Marynivka crossing, to try to prevent
armed men from infiltrating. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was
"outraged" by the move.
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Isachenkov reported from Moscow.
Angela Charlton in Paris, Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Geir Moulson in
Berlin and Julie Pace in Benouville, France, contributed to this report.