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Developments in eastern Ukraine

Merkel, Hollande arrive in Moscow to meet with Putin over Ukrainian crisis

The two leaders arrived in the Russian capital after a visit to Kiev on Thursday, where they had talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko

© Mikhail Dzhaparidze/TASS

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Putin, Merkel, Hollande to discuss new plan for Ukraine settlement

MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande arrive in Moscow on Friday evening to discuss with Russian President Vladimir Putin possible ways to settle the situation in eastern Ukraine.

Merkel’s and Hollande’s planes landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo-2 airport. Upon arrival, the two leaders provided no comments.

Merkel and Hollande arrived in the Russian capital after a visit to Kiev on Thursday, where they had talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

Ahead of the Moscow visit, Merkel said that the Ukrainian crisis could only be solved through diplomatic effort. "We don’t know whether talks in Moscow would be short or long but one thing is clear — we must resolve this conflict, stop the bloodshed," she said in Berlin, adding that any solutions must be based on the Minsk agreements.

The French leader said he and the German Chancellor were bringing some proposals to Moscow. No details of these proposals have been revealed so far.

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Earlier on Friday, Russian president’s aide Yuri Ushakov said Friday’s meeting between the three leaders had been prompted by an aggravating situation in Ukraine. "But also the numerous initiatives the Russian president voiced in phone conversations with Merkel, Hollande and Poroshenko in recent weeks have been good incentives [to the process]," Ushakov said, referring in particular to Putin’s letter to Poroshenko on January 15, in which he suggested an immediate pullback of heavy artillery.

"We are ready for a constructive conversation aiming to achieve certain agreements which will help to stabilize the situation and to establish direct contacts between official representatives of Kiev and Donbass," the presidential aide said, adding these agreements "should facilitate the more effective work of the Contact Group and assist in restoring economic ties between the Ukrainian government and the country's southeast.".

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Angela Merkel Eastern Ukraine Francois Hollande

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The Kiev regime’s attempted terrorist attack on facilities in Russia’s territory with the use of a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle was thwarted

Press review: Biden backs aid to Israel, Ukraine and Russia assets giving West legal fits

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NATO has no plans to deploy nuclear forces in Poland — Stoltenberg

NATO Secretary General did not immediately understand the reporter’s question, forcing the reporter to explain that they were referring to the idea of deploying nuclear weapons in Poland

Ukrainian military’s shelling leaves two civilians wounded in DPR in past day

The Ukrainian armed forces carried out 22 attacks on residential areas in the Donetsk People’s Republic

Mexicans, Colombians recruited in US jails to be deployed in Ukraine — SVR

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Baku cannot turn blind eye to France, India, Greece arming Armenia — President Aliyev

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Top Swiss diplomat reiterates need for Russia’s involvement in resolving Ukraine issue

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Eleven Russians dead, 48 injured in Ukrainian strikes over week

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Putin informed about detention of Deputy Defense Minister Ivanov

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Russia has significant amount of West’s funds in case of confiscation of its assets

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Azerbaijani president accuses West of seeking to draw vision lines in South Caucasus

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UNRWA chief plans to visit Russia soon

Philippe Lazzarini plans to hold talks with BRICS member nations

US can ship weapons to Ukraine within few days if funding approved — Pentagon

France preparing contingent of 2,000 troops to be sent to Ukraine — intelligence chief

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Azerbaijanian leader says reaching peace with Armenia by November 'quite realistic'

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US Abrams tanks, Bradley APCs unloaded in Greece — report

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Destroyed TV tower in Kharkov carried Ukrainian air defense coordination device — official

Digital TV signal interruptions are now observed in the city

Polish opposition party calls for country to host nuclear weapons

Mariusz Blaszczak also urged Prime Minister Donald Tusk to discuss the issue with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who is in Warsaw on a visit

Continued threats to Pyongyang to put US, allies in danger, Kim Jong Un’s sister warns

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Russian presidential envoy visits Afghanistan to discuss political cooperation

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FSB raids terrorist cell in Dagestan that funded, armed Crocus City Hall attackers

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Press review: GOP tussles over Ukraine bill and Putin, Aliyev talk partnership

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Republika Srpska president praises Moscow-Banja Luka relations, favors strengthening them

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US 'not forgetting' to help itself with aid to Ukraine — Kremlin

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Larry Johnson also noted that the Russian forces manage to advance recently despite the slush on the roads

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West balancing on edge of direct military confrontation between nuclear powers — Lavrov

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Beijing condemns US hypocrisy around Ukraine conflict

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin reiterated that China "is not an instigator or a party to the Ukrainian crisis and has never fanned the flames of the conflict, not to mention, used the situation for its own purposes"

Most agents at Security Service of Ukraine set on war with Russia — former officer

Vasily Prozorov said that "it is extremely difficult to count on any better judgement on their part"

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