France, Germany Trying To Revive Ukraine Talks: Ministers

Fakhir Rizvi Published September 02, 2016 | 07:50 PM

BRATISLAVA, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd September, 2016) - France and Germany on Friday said they were doing everything possible to revive Ukraine peace talks with Kiev and Moscow, even if Russian President Vladimir Putin was reluctant.

France and Germany have pushed the "Normandy format" to try to end the Ukraine crisis which has plunged ties with Moscow to Cold War lows, but Putin accuses Kiev of acting in bad faith. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said that "even if we can sense some reticence on the Russian side on the Normandy format .

we are determined to make the (Minsk) peace accords work. We are doing everything on our part to restart a fruitful dialogue." German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said earlier that Berlin and Paris were "not satisfied" with how the Minsk peace accords, agreed in late 2014 and reaffirmed in early 2015, were being implemented.

However, a fresh ceasefire which has held since Thursday offered "a little glimmer of hope," Steinmeier said as he arrived for talks with his European Union peers in Bratislava.