Putin in favour of Angela Merkel, and ignoring John Kerry.

Tom Kutsch reports that,

"U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in Russia on Tuesday (today), his first time in the country in two years and the first cabinet-level meeting by a U.S. official since the start of the conflict in Ukraine last year. His brief visit and meeting, which is set to include Russian President Vladimir Putin, will be a rare forum for diplomacy between the two countries, whose relations have plummeted to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War." (Aljazeera : May 11, 2015) (my emphasis)

This meeting will take place in Sochi, recently the "corruption capital of the world" that hosted the Winter Olympics at a cost of $50 billion, most of which was siphoned away in corruption.

The confirmation of this meeting,

"...followed hours of limbo Monday during which the Kremlin refused to say whether Kerry and Putin would meet, despite U.S. officials' insistence that the talks would take place. A senior State Department official told the Associated Press tersely, "We usually don't go to Sochi to see Foreign Minister Lavrov." (Fox News : May 12, 2015) (my emphasis)

Is it merely a co-incidence that the Putinversteher Angela Merkel had a private tête-à-tête with Putin last Sunday (10 May) at which the dangerously volatile situation in Ukraine was, allegedly, top of their agenda?

Furthermore, why is this meeting between Kerry and that dyed-in-the-wool Soviet foreign minister, Lavrov (left), taking place in Sochi rather than in Moscow? 

And will Putin be meeting with John Kerry?

We should bear in mind that recently the US,

".....quietly introduced a new term: "combined Russian-separatist forces" when referring to Putin's rebel proxies and his Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine.

As Bradley Klapper and Ken Dilanian reported,

"By describing them as an integrated force in the east of the country, the U.S. is putting greater responsibility on Russia for the continued fighting. That will make it harder for Russia to persuade the U.S. and Europe to scale back sanctions that are hurting its economy..." (Business Insider UK : Apr. 30, 2015)

Could this be the underlying reason why Putin last Sunday (May 10) rolled out the 'red carpet' in Moscow for Merkel , whilst relegating John Kerry to the backwoods of Sochi?

Could this also be an indication that, as AntonTroianovski says,

"Merkel’s highly anticipated visit ......... illustrated [her] challenge as the West’s de facto negotiator-in-chief in the Ukraine ..."? (MarketWatch : May 10, 2015), a challenge that Putin seems to be endorsing by the refusal of the Kremlin to say whether Kerry and Putin would be meeting in Sochi?

This Putin 'snub' towards Kerry come as Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (right) warns that,

“There has been a Russian build-up, both along the borders between Russia and Ukraine but also inside eastern Ukraine, with a steady flow of heavy equipment, tanks, artillery, ammunition, air defence systems and a lot of training,” alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference yesterday.

“So they have the capacity, the capability to launch new attacks with very little warning time. But of course no one can say anything with certainty about the intention.” (Times of Malta (Reuters): Tuesday, May 12, 2015) (my emphasis)

Merkel simply cannot be ignorant of Putin's build-up of his forces and military equipment in eastern Ukraine. 

Wrapping herself up with the cloak of the Minsk2 protocols, protocols which favour Putin's Novorossiya ambitions far above the re-instatement of Crimea and eastern Ukraine within the borders of an independent Ukraine, simply underscores the fact that she is guided by her sympathies towards Russia. 

After all, her reassurance to Putin who said that,

“Our countries cooperated even in much more challenging conditions, when there seemed to be insurmountable barriers,”

was simply to state that,

“Germany is working with Russia, not against it.” (RT : May 10, 2015)

 (to be continued)