After a year of stalemate, the "Kerch conflict" finally ushered in subtle changes in Russian-Ukrainian relations.
CCTV News:To pay attention to the recent subtle changes between Russia and Ukraine. A year ago, on November 25th last year, three Ukrainian military ships forcibly broke into the Kerch Strait and entered the Russian closed waters. At that time, the Kerch conflict triggered diplomatic friction between Russia and Ukraine, which Russia regarded as a "serious provocation" and detained all the crew and ships, while Uzbekistan identified the Russian ships as "attacking first" and insisted that the navigation was "peaceful" and "legal". At present, the "Kerch conflict" between Russia and Ukraine has been deadlocked for a year, and now it has finally ushered in a peaceful result.
Russian-Ukrainian President telephoned to discuss issues such as the transfer of ships by Russia.
On the 25th local time, the Russian Kremlin issued a statement saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Zelensky on the same day at the invitation of Uzbekistan. The two sides discussed the handover of three Ukrainian naval vessels detained in the Kerch Strait conflict last year, and held consultations on natural gas transmission and other issues. The Kremlin said that the leaders of the two countries indicated that they would continue to maintain communication at all levels.
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The four telephone conversations between Russian and Ukrainian presidents are expected to pick up.
In fact, since Zelensky was elected president of Ukraine in April this year, Russia and Ukraine have actually started to actively and tentatively improve their relations. In July, Putin and Zelensky spoke by phone for the first time; Since then, the two men have talked again in August and September respectively, and this time yesterday was the fourth telephone conversation since Ukrainian President Zelensky took office; The warming of this relationship continues. In September, Russia and Ukraine exchanged people who had been detained before; On the 18th of this month, Russia also returned the Ukrainian ship that was detained a year ago, which means that the Kerch Strait conflict has basically come to an end.
The fourth call between Russian and Ukrainian presidents focused on three issues.
In addition to ending the one-year stalemate, the fourth conversation between Russian and Ukrainian presidents also discussed two other important topics, namely, the "Normandy model" involving foreign affairs and internal affairs and the "natural gas bill". On the 25th local time, the Kremlin said that a four-nation summit of "Normandy Model" including Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France will be held in Paris, France on December 9th, and Russian President Vladimir Putin will confirm his attendance in Paris. The Normandy Model was founded in June 2014. On the occasion of commemorating the 70th anniversary of Normandy landing, France invited Russian, German and Ukrainian leaders to hold the first consultation on the situation in Ukraine in Normandy. So, what did the four-nation summit meet in early December? How to talk about? Can it be a good medicine to solve the Ukrainian problem?
The leaders of Russia and De Fauw will gather in Paris next month.
On the 18th of this month, according to the website of Kegong, Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Macron held a telephone conversation that day. The content of the conversation was "mainly concerned about the situation in Ukraine and the preparations for the four-party talks in Normandy". Earlier, Germany confirmed that German Chancellor Angela Merkel would attend, and the Ukrainian President’s Office also confirmed the meeting date. Not surprisingly, the leaders of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine will gather in Paris. If this summit is successfully held, it will be restarted after the interruption of the second "Normandy Model" summit in 2016.
After a lapse of three years, the "Normandy Model" was restarted, and it was widely believed that Russia and Ukraine might engage in a confrontation over the future of the Minsk Agreement. Earlier, the leaders of Russia and France said in a telephone conversation that the talks should contribute to the rapid and full implementation of the Minsk Agreement. Putin stressed that "Kiev should first ensure that the law recognizing the special status of Donbass comes into effect." Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov also said that the conditions are ripe for the summit meeting of the four countries, but the outside world should not "expect too much". Moscow still hopes that Paris and Berlin can persuade Ukraine to accept the indisputable Minsk Agreement.
In April 2014, a large-scale conflict broke out between Ukrainian government forces and civilian armed forces in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine (including Donetsk and Luhansk States). Under the mediation of the international community, the two parties to the conflict reached a ceasefire agreement in Minsk in September 2014 and February 2015, namely the Minsk Agreement. According to the analysis, at the end of this year, the Minsk Agreement is about to expire, and Russia and Ukraine have been in intensive contact recently — — The exchange of detainees and the return of ships are also regarded as goodwill released by Russia before the "Normandy Model" summit. However, Ukraine has always taken a firm attitude towards the Donbass region, and it is still uncertain whether the "Normandy model" can become a good medicine for the situation in Ukraine.
Russia and Ukraine may reach an agreement on the "big natural gas bill"
As the Minsk Agreement is about to expire at the end of the year, there is also a "natural gas contract" related to Ukraine’s people’s livelihood, and this issue has also become the focus of the Russian-Ukrainian president’s telephone discussion.
The "Beixi -2" natural gas pipeline project aims to lay a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany via the bottom of the Baltic Sea, and transport Russia’s rich natural gas resources to Germany first, and then transfer them to other European countries via the German trunk pipeline. At present, Russia mainly transports natural gas to Europe by land, via Ukraine, Poland and other Eastern European countries. However, this contract will expire on December 31 this year, and the renewal negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have not yet made any progress. Once the "Beixi -2" natural gas pipeline is officially put into operation, it means that Russia can stably supply natural gas to Europe even without the cooperation of Ukraine. However, it seems that Russia and Ukraine have reached an agreement on the "natural gas bill". According to Sputnik news agency & radio’s report yesterday (25th), Ukraine is going to sign a long-term contract with Gazprom to transfer natural gas before the end of this year, and the newly established Ukrainian natural gas transportation system operator will obtain the business license and qualification appraisal.