Like Trump, Putin is now staring into the abyss of the unknown.

The 'Scarlet Thread of Maidan', that has woven itself from the revolution of Maidan (2014) into the 2016 US presidential elections, has yesterday (14 Sept. 2018) burst onto the stage of the Robert Mueller investigation into the collusion between Putin, his 'siloviki', and Donald Trump, that ultimately led to Trump obtaining the keys to the White House.

The 'Scarlet Thread of Maidan' has always been hovering in the background of the Mueller investigation until yesterday, when the Putin-Manafort-Trump cabal fell apart as Manafort pleaded guilty to Mueller's upcoming charges against him. Manafort will now be 'spilling all the beans' about the Putin-Trump collusion during the 2016 US presidential election, when he was in charge of running the Trump election-machine.


For Putin, his 'siloviki', and Trump, this 'turning' of Manafort towards helping the Mueller investigation spells nothing short of disaster.

Manafort pleading 'guilty' before the court Judge yesterday offers insight into what he was pleading guilty to, and how it will further propel Trump towards the gallows of 'impeachment'.

Now recall that in my blog entry of  30 March, 2018, I wrote that,

"Diana Denman (right), a platform committee member from Texas, had proposed at the [2016] Republican National Security Committee platform meeting in Cleveland,

".... a platform amendment that would call for maintaining or increasing sanctions against Russia, increasing aid for Ukraine and “providing lethal defensive weapons” to the Ukrainian military."

It is now emerging, as reported by Mark Hosenball (left), that,

"Investigators probing whether Donald Trump’s presidential campaign colluded with Russia have been questioning witnesses about events at the 2016 Republican National Convention, according to two sources familiar with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiries." (Reuters : March 29, 2018) (my emphasis)"

At the Republican Convention, the phrase "lethal defensive weapons" was deleted from the original Denman resolution.

"But the final platform language deleted the reference to “lethal defensive weapons,” a change that made the platform less hostile to Russia, whose troops had invaded the Crimean peninsula and eastern Ukraine." (ibid Mark Hosenball)

Will Manafort now finally reveal that it was Trump, himself, who sanctioned these changes to Denman's resolution that supported Ukraine?

And on the heels of Manafort turning into a Mueller witness, we now also hear, as reported by Max Seddon, that the,
   
"Russia’s central bank has raised its main interest rate for the first time in almost four years, following Turkey in taking steps to defend its currency amid emerging market turmoil.The bank raised raised its benchmark lending rate by 0.25 percentage points to 7.50 per cent.
 ...
Central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina (left) said she felt moved to act after inflation rose to 3.1 per cent in August — higher than the central bank’s predictions. The central bank expects inflation to reach 5.5 per cent next year before beginning to revert to the baseline target of 4 per cent by 2020, she said" (Financial Times : 14 September, 2018) (my emphasis)

This interest-rate rise, coming on top of the demonstrations in Russia against Putin's recent 'pension reforms', and the turning of Manafort into Mueller's witness, once again raises the issue of Putin's recklessness in response.

Like Trump, Putin is now staring into the abyss of the unknown.

(to be continued)

Has Putin decided to 'throw caution to the wind'?

In my last blog entry (2/9/2018) I wrote that,

"More significantly, as reported by UNIAN,

"Washington is ready to expand arms supplies to Ukraine in order to build up the country’s naval and air defense forces in the face of continuing Russian support for militants in Donbas, according to the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine, Kurt Volker. (left)" (UNIAN : 01 September 2018) (my emphasis) 

Trump cannot come to Putin's rescue either on the implementation of possible new US sanctions against himself and his cronies, nor on the impending expansion of arms to Ukraine since Trump, himself, is fast beginning to loose favor with the American public."

Putin is now attempting a full blockade in the Sea of Azov to Ukrainian ships.

 

As Stephen Blank (right) reports, 

 

" ..... [ ] in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, Moscow is waging a simultaneous military and economic war against Kyiv. It has blockaded the Sea of Azov to Ukrainian ships, demands the right to inspect “foreign” vessels, and has extended a maritime exclusion zone all the way to Odesa, Ukraine." (Atlantic Council : September 7, 2018) (my emphasis)

 

Putin's attempt to blockade the Sea of Azov has, however, been met by Ukraine, which has,

 

" ... started deploying modern armoured artillery boats at the Azov region to counter Russian aggression in the south of Ukraine, the organization of coastal defense and protection of the Azov Sea coast... [I]t is expected that three small armoured artillery boats will be deployed to the Azov Sea, which today will be the most powerful units in this region." (Maritime Security News : 10 September, 2018) (my emphasis)

More ominously, however, as reported by Mark Hodge,

"Russia [is sending] ‘up to 1,000 tanks towards country’s border with Ukraine’ as tensions with the West continue to escalate

This comes amid rising tensions in Ukraine following the killing of pro-Russian separatist leader Aleksandr Zakharchenko who died in a bomb attack at a café in Kiev." ( The Sun : 5 September, 2018) (my emphasis)

This movement of Putin's tanks towards the Ukrainian border coincides with the fact that yesterday,

"Russian-led forces mounted 25 attacks on Ukrainian troops in Donbas in the past 24 hours." (UNIAN : 10 September, 2018) (my emphasis)

Putin, it would seem, has decided to 'throw caution to the wind'.

One could argue that in part, this recklessness of Putin has been precipitated by his need to deflect the gaze of the Russian people away from what is fast becoming his 'ill-fated pension reform', as well as the recent acceleration of Trump towards the gallows of 'impeachment'

As Andrei Kolesnikov (right) writes,

"Putin’s recent fall in approval ratings has been steep. The main reason for the slump in ratings is the government’s proposal to increase the retirement age from 60 to 65 for men and from 55 to 60 for women.
...
Putin’s successful foreign policy agenda is starting to lose its power to command public support in the face of growing domestic frustrations.
...
Still, if Putin’s low approval ratings persist, the Kremlin will likely try to create some sort of spectacle to distract attention from Russia’s many social problems. It may want to double down on dramatic foreign policy gestures, but, as mentioned above, these have lost their potency." (Carnegie Moscow Center : 15 August, 2018) (my emphasis)

 And it is this 'doubling down on dramatic foreign policy issues' that is making Putin dangerously 'throw caution to the wind'.

It is no wonder that Petro Poroshenko (left), Ukraine's President, recently pronounced that,

"He said the Ukrainian Armed Forces and a strong army is the guarantee of peace.

"The stronger our army, the sooner peace will come. The stronger the international solidarity around Ukraine, the sooner peace will come.

The tougher sanctions against the aggressor country, the sooner peace will come," Poroshenko said." (UNIAN : 8 September,2018) (my emphasis)

(to be continued)

Putin is now trapped between demonstrating Russians, possible new US sanctions, and US arms flowing into Ukraine.

You can fool some of the people all of the time,

All of the people some of the time,

But you cannot fool all of the people, all of the time.

(Abraham Lincoln)

So it is that Vladimir Putin, the 'teflon' czar of Russia, has backed down from his 'pension reform', a reform that attempted to raise the retirement age of Russians already struggling under the yoke of a failing economy, in the face of a growing chorus of Russians demonstrating against this reform.

Adding to Putin's current woes is the fact that, as reported by RFERL,

"President Vladimir Putin and Russia's Security Council have described possible new U.S. sanctions against Moscow as "absolutely illegal," Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying." (RERL : August 10, 2018) (my emphasis)

Furthermore, it should come as no surprise that Dmitry Medvedev is now echoing Putin's anger at the demonstrating Russians by stating that, 

"... Moscow would consider it a "declaration of economic war" and would retaliate "economically, politically, or, if needed, by other means" if the United States imposes bans on Russian banks or their use of a particular currency." (ibid RFERL) (my emphasis)

Further raising the anger of Putin is, as reported by Ray Sanchez and Nathan Hodge,

"The leader of Russian-backed separatists [Alexander Zakharchenko (right)] in Ukraine's Donetsk region was killed in an explosion at a cafe Friday, Russian state news agencies and separatist officials said." (CNN : August 31, 2018)

This anger of Putin is perhaps best expressed by that dyed-in-the-wool Soviet foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov (below left), who, in the immediate aftermath of  Zakharchenko's death, stated that,

"... further talks in the Normandy Four format were "impossible" after the murder of the leader of the "DPR" terrorist organization, Alexander Zakharchenko" (UNIAN : 01 September 2018) (my emphasis)

Yet, only two weeks ago,

"German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (right) told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper Germany hoped to "create new momentum" in the Minsk peace process" (CNBC : Sun, 19 Aug 2018) (my emphasis)

Where, now, does this recent pronouncement of Lavrov leave Merkel and Maas?

More significantly, as reported by UNIAN,

"Washington is ready to expand arms supplies to Ukraine in order to build up the country’s naval and air defense forces in the face of continuing Russian support for militants in Donbas, according to the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine, Kurt Volker. (left)" (UNIAN : 01 September 2018) (my emphasis) 

Trump cannot come to Putin's rescue either on the implementation of possible new US sanctions against himself and his cronies, nor on the impending expansion of arms to Ukraine since Trump, himself, is fast beginning to loose favor with the American public.

 As reported by MSNBC (31 Aug. 2018),

"... Disapproval of President Trump's job performance has reached a new high. ... Just 36% of Americans approve of the President's job performance, with 60% disapproving ..."

In two months time the mid-term US elections will be held. The Democratic Party may, after these elections, control the House of Congress.

Trump is already considering the possibility of the start of impeachment proceedings against him if the Democrats win control of the US Congress this coming November. (cf. Steve Benen : MSNBC : 23 August, 2018)

Did Medvedev therefor have the US mid-term elections in mind when he stated that,

"... Moscow would consider it a "declaration of economic war" and would retaliate "economically, politically, or, if needed, by other means" if the United States imposes bans on Russian banks or their use of a particular currency." (ibid RFERL) (my emphasis)

Putin is now trapped between the rock of demonstrating Russians and the hard place of possible new US sanctions, and US arms flowing into Ukraine.

Will he now redouble his efforts to ensure that the Republicans win in the November mid-term elections, as he did for Trump during the 2016 US presidential elections?

(to be continued)

Why do Merkel and her ministers continue to "flog the dead horse of Minsk2"?

"Oh! what a tangled web we weave

  When first we practice to deceive"

The walls are closing very fast around Donald Trump as more of the truth about the intimate links between himself and his 'Siamese' twin, Vladimir Putin, emerges.

More disturbing for Trump, his eldest children are now also being inextricably ensnared by the tangled web of lies that he has woven around himself.

As reported by Rachel Maddow (full video) yesterday,

" ... whether scrutiny of this president brought on by the Russia investigation [ ] is going to end up turning business and financial dealings, including during the campaign, that could represent serious criminal liability for this president ... for his campaign ... even potentially for his family ..." (MSNBC : 22 August, 2018) (my emphasis)

And whilst Trump's elder children are now facing possible criminal charges, charges from which they cannot be exonerated with a presidential pardon from their father; in a recent interview with Reuters reporters on August 20, 2018 at the White House, Trump stated that,

“I mentioned Crimea [during the Helsinki meeting], sure. I always mention Crimea whenever I mention Ukraine. Putin and I had a very good discussion. It was a very — I think it was a very good discussion for both parties. I mentioned the gas pipeline going to Germany.”
....
“No. I haven’t thought about it [lifting US sanctions against Putin's Russia]. But no, I’m not considering it at all. No. I would consider it if they do something that would be good for us. But I wouldn’t consider it without that.” (Reuters : 21 August, 2018) (my emphasis)

Interestingly, as reported by RFERL,

"Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov (right), said on August 21 the Kremlin welcomed Trump's comments indicating readiness to cooperate with Moscow, but that it would "welcome even more some kind of concrete actions."" (RFERL : 21 August, 2018) (my emphasis)

Now recall that, as reported by Jim Sciutto and Jenna McLaughlin (left),

"The [western intelligence] assessments, based on a broad range of intelligence, indicate that the Kremlin believes the July 16 summit delivered a better outcome than it had expected, but that Moscow is perplexed that Trump is not delivering more Russia-friendly policies in its aftermath" (CNN : 13 August, 2018) (my emphasis)

This 'perplexity' on the part of Putin and his Kremlin 'siloviki' regarding Trump's "lack of concrete action" no doubt refers to the fact that thus far, Trump has not yet lived up to his side of the bargain regarding the lifting of US sanctions against Putin and his Kremlin 'siloviki' for them helping him gain the keys to the White House.

Which, yet again, brings us to the thorny question of the Nord Stream2 pipeline.

In their recent tête-à-tête in Berlin, Merkel and Putin,

" ...  both viewed the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project as a purely commercial venture, despite persistent fire by the U.S. and Ukrainian governments, Peskov said." (CNBC : Sun, 19 Aug 2018) (my emphasis)

Furthermore,

"That's why it is necessary to take measures against possible non-competitive and illegal attacks from the third countries in order to complete this project eventually," [Dmitry Peskov] told reporters shortly before Putin flew back to Russia. It was not immediately clear what such "measures" could entail. (ibid CNBC) (my emphasis)

Even more interesting is the the statement by Ursula von der Leyen, German Defence Minister, that,

"If you look at the gas pipeline ...Germany is an independent country where energy supplies is concerned.." (ibid CNBC) (my emphasis)

And when confronted by the reporter asking,

"... And you don't think this pipeline would compromise security ..." (ibid CNBC),

Ursula von der Leyen  responded,

"No. In our own German interests we have to make sure that this is not the case ... But there are many other things to worry about" (ibid CNBC)

And whilst Merkel and Ursula von der Leyen are both hell bent on ensuring that Nord Stream 2 goes ahead, irrespective of the real security concerns of Ukraine, together with other EU member states, UNIAN reports that,

"Russia's recent actions in the Sea of Azov indicate possible preparations for possible landing operations along Ukraine's coastline in the Sea of Azov and Odesa coast in the Black Sea, according to Oleksandr Khara, deputy chair of the board of the Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies.
......
Russia's actions in the Sea of Azov with the blocking of Ukrainian vessels show that the war is now also being waged on the sea, Khara wrote in a blog for Obozrevatel." (UNIAN : 23 August, 2018) (my emphasis)

Furthermore, whilst Putin has opened up a new front in his war with Ukraine,

"German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (right) told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper Germany hoped to "create new momentum" in the Minsk peace process" (ibid CNBC) (my emphasis)

Why do Merkel and her ministers continue to "flog the dead horse of Minsk2"?

One need look no further than the ghosts of the Treaty of Rapallo (1920), and the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact (1939) 

As an article in the Economist (2014) also explains,

"WHEN Germans add the word Versteher (one who understands) to a term, they generally mix flattery with irony..... The label is now being attached to so-called Russlandversteher or Putinversteher: members of the elite or intelligentsia who gush with empathy for Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, on talk shows, in journals and at dinner parties." (The Economist : 8 May, 2014)

Maybe .... just maybe .... this unconditional German empathy for Russia and Putin has its roots in that minor German princess, Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, who became Empress of Russia from 1762 until 1796, Russia's longest-ruling female leader, otherwise known as Catherine the Great.

(to be continued)

Is Merkel now Putin's best hope of rescuing him from the impeding disaster facing the Russian economy?

The summer holidays are coming to and end, and the Trump-Putin Siamese twins find themselves nursing political headaches.

The noose of impeachment is tightening around the neck of Trump, and Putin is sinking even deeper into the morass that he created with his war with Ukraine in the Donbas, and by his illegal occupation and annexation of Ukraine's Crimea.

 Trump's latest attack on one of his critics, former CIA head John Brennan, amplifies the degree to which Trump is now going to salvage his presidency.

As reported by the BBC,

"Donald Trump has revoked the security clearance of ex-CIA chief John Brennan (right), denying the US president's critic any access to sensitive information.
...
In response, Mr Brennan tweeted that the move was part of President Trump's broader effort to "suppress freedom of speech and punish critics".(BBC News : 16 August, 2018) (my emphasis)

Notwithstanding Trump trying to 'muzzle' his critics, we also learn that,

"Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State Heather Nauert (left) has said Russia is orchestrating the conflict in Donbas and must pull its forces out of Ukraine." (UNIAN : 16 August, 2018) (my emphasis)

Furthermore, we also learn that,

"U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton will visit Ukraine next week.
.....
"As part of the visit, John Bolton (right) will meet with the leaders of Ukraine and high-ranking Ukrainian representatives," the embassy added." UNIAN : 15 August, 2018) (my emphasis)

What Bolton is going to discuss with Ukrainian leaders remains somewhat of a mystery since, shortly thereafter, he will be jetting off to Geneva to meet with Russians. As reported by Steve Holland,

" ....White House national security adviser John Bolton will meet Russian officials in Geneva next week as a follow-up to the summit meeting that President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had in Helsinki last month, the White House said." (Reuters : 14 August, 2018) (my emphasis)

The question that needs to be asked of John Bolton is,

"Since the Helsinki meeting no-one, except Trump and Putin, know what was discussed during their 'private' meeting in Helsinki. So what, exactly, is this 'follow-up summit' in Geneva all about?"

Could it be that, as reported by Jim Sciutto and Jenna McLaughlin (left),

"The [western intelligence] assessments, based on a broad range of intelligence, indicate that the Kremlin believes the July 16 summit delivered a better outcome than it had expected, but that Moscow is perplexed that Trump is not delivering more Russia-friendly policies in its aftermath" (CNN : 13 August, 2018) (my emphasis)

and that Bolton's follow-up summit is to assure Putin that Trump will deliver on his demands that were discussed 'privately' between them at the Helsinki meeting?

This 'follow-up summit' should also be seen in the light of,

"Russia's hybrid military forces mounted 43 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas in the past 24 hours, with two Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action (WIA).
....
Since Thursday midnight, Russian-led forces have mounted three attacks on the Ukrainian positions near Svitlodarsk, Pavlopil, and Vodiane. "It should be noted the enemy used Grad multiple rocket launchers last night for the first time in a few months." (UNIAN : 16 August, 2018) (my emphasis)

Coming close on the heels of Bolton attending a so-called 'follow-up' summit in Geneva with his Russian counterparts, especially in light of Heather Nauert stating that, "Russia is orchestrating the conflict in Donbas and must pull its forces out of Ukraine.", we now learn that,

"German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Berlin on August 18 for the second time in just over three months, her government says.
...
The agenda of the talks are set to include the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, as well as energy issues, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on August 13." (RFERL : 13 August, 2018) (my emphasis)

That 'energy issues' are also on their agenda seems to indicate that the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline between Germany and Putin's Russia has become a critical economic issue for Putin.

As reported by UNIAN,

"Oil prices fell on Wednesday, pulled down by a report of increased U.S. crude inventories and as a darkening economic outlook stoked by expectations of lower fuel demand." (UNIAN : 15 August, 2018) (my emphasis)

It is therefore an economic 'imperative' for Putin that Nord Stream 2 is completed, and starts earning hard cash for the strapped Russian economy. 

Paul Goble  has also reported that,

"Most Russians today are focusing on possible increases in pension ages, but they should be more worried about a larger and more immediate threat: an increase in inflation possibly to “explosive” levels as a result of international sanctions and government efforts to raise money, according to a group of Moscow financial analysts and financial experts.

            According to the group, which was assembled by the Rosbalt news agency, inflation will soon be accelerating because of increases in VAT and housing costs, higher prices for fuel, a decline in the price of oil, and a new wave of sanctions by the US, all of which will send prices up and the standard of living down (rosbalt.ru/russia/2018/08/08/1723017.html)." (Window on Eurasia : 8 August, 2018) (my emphasis)

Is Merkel now Putin's best hope of rescuing him from the impending disaster facing the Russian economy?

(to be continued)

The Putin-Manafort-Trump conspiracy cabal is beginning to disintegrate.

As the walls of justice continue to inexorably close in around Donald Trump, current President of the US, we should not loose sight of the fact that the thread of Maidan is an integral part, and possibly a central part, of the impeachment noose that is now rapidly descending around the neck of Donald Trump.
 
Let us recall that at the 2016 Republican Convention at which Donald Trump was hoisted into being the Republican presidential candidate for the 2016 US presidential election, behind the scenes at this convention was Paul Manafort, Trump's new campaign manager, the same Paul Manafort who gave Victor Yanukovich a political and style makeover that led to Yanukovich becoming president of Ukraine in 2010.

Trump sang the praises of Manafort as his campaign manager after securing the Republican presidential nomination, but soon after began to sing a different tune about Manafort as the criminality of Manafort began to emerge.

Let us also recall that at this 2016 Republican convention, it was Diana Denman (right), a platform committee member from Texas, who had proposed at the Republican National Security Committee platform meeting in Cleveland,

".... a platform amendment that would call for maintaining or increasing sanctions against Russia, increasing aid for Ukraine and “providing lethal defensive weapons” to the Ukrainian military.


As  Josh Rogin (left) then reported,

"The Trump campaign worked behind the scenes last week
to make sure the new Republican platform won’t call for giving weapons to Ukraine to fight Russian and rebel forces, contradicting the view of almost all Republican foreign policy leaders in Washington." (Washington Post : July 18, 2016) (my emphasis)

It is known that Manafort's fingerprints were all over this attempt to scupper the proposed amendment of Diana Denman  regarding 'increasing' sanctions against Russia, and providing Ukraine with 'lethal' weapons in their war with Putin's Russia.

Now prison for Manafort beckons as the ill-gotten gains that he received from Yanukovich is revealed in a US Court of Law.


As Nathan Layne and Karen Freifeld (left) now report,

"While prosecutors have said they will not present evidence in this trial about possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, they may dig deeper into Manafort’s connections with Russian and Ukranian oligarchs, legal experts have said.

Devine said in his testimony on Tuesday that Manafort used Western-style polling and advertising to help lift pro-Russian political figure Viktor Yanukovych to victory in Ukraine’s 2010 presidential election.

Yanukovych was later swept from power and fled to Russia in 2014, triggering a big loss of business for Manafort." (Reuters : August 1, 2018) (my emphasis)


And it was precisely this fleeing of Yanukovich into the arms of Putin that so angered Putin against the revolutionaries of Maidan that he immediately set in motion his illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea, and started his war with Ukraine in the Donbas.

Following Putin's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea, the EU and the US instituted their economic sanctions against Putin's Russia.

It is this millstone of sanctions around Putin's neck that led to his direct collusion with Trump during the 2016 US presidential elections, and that has now led to Manafort staring into the abyss of  a long prison sentence.

And now the Putin-Manafort-Trump conspiracy cabal is beginning to disintegrate.

(to be continued)

Will Merkel be swayed to agree to Putin's 'referendum' so that Nord Stream 2 can go ahead unhindered?

The fallout in the US of the recent Trump-Putin 'private' meeting in Helsinki continues to mount.

Each day brings new concerns about what Trump and Putin agreed to during their more that 2 hour 'private' meeting.

Not more so than by the recent pronouncement by the Kremlin that,

"The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is ready for the practical implementation of the agreements reached at the meeting of Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Helsinki. This was stated by Major-General Igor Konashenkov. (left)

As noted, the Russian military are ready to "intensify contacts with their American counterparts in the General Staff and other channels of communication to discuss the extension of the START Treaty, the interaction in Syria, as well as other topical issues of ensuring military security." (RG-RU : 17/7/2018) (my emphasis) (google translate)

Surprisingly, and to their consternation, US generals were not informed about these 'agreements' between Trump and Putin.

MSNBC 25-7-2018

If Trump and Putin's 'private' Helsinki meeting is causing serious consternation amongst US army generals, then what are we now to make of the 'private' meeting between Angela Merkel, the German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, that dyed-in-the-wool Soviet foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, AND the head of Russia’s military general staff Valery Gerasimov?

Merkel              Haas              Lavrov             Gerasimov

As Madeline Chambers reports,

"German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Berlin on Tuesday (23/7/2018) to discuss Syria, the situation in the Middle East and the conflict in Ukraine, Germany’s deputy government spokeswoman said.

The meeting, agreed last week by Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin, was also attended by German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and the head of Russia’s military general staff Valery Gerasimov, said the spokeswoman in a statement. No further details were given." (Reuters : July 24, 2018) (my emphasis)

As in the case of the Trump-Putin 'private' meeting, what was discussed between Merkel, Haas, Lavrov, and Gerasimov?

What agreements were reached between them in Berlin regarding Putin's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea, and his ongoing war with Ukraine?

Exactly the same question can be posed regarding the 'agreements' reached between Putin and Trump at Helsinki!

We now have yet another 'confirmation' from Putin's aide, Yuri Ushakov (left), that,

" ... the issue of holding a local referendum [on the regional status of] eastern Ukraine's Donbas was being discussed at the Helsinki talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. "This proposal was discussed, while there has been no reaction yet," Ushakov told the Izvestia newspaper.
...
Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, confirmed that Putin had raised the topic with Trump, saying Putin made “concrete proposals” on how to handle the ongoing conflict." (UNIAN : 25 July, 2018) (my emphasis)

Was this 'referendum' of Putin that he proposed to Trump at Helsinki also 'discussed' at the Berlin meeting between Merkel, Haas, Lavrov, and Gerasimov?

And if so, what agreements were reached?

Bear in mind that at the Putin-Merkel meeting in Sochi (18 May,2018), Merkel concluded that,


"We have strategic interests to maintain good relations with Russia ..."

To which Putin responded,

"Germany is one of our key trade partners ... We just started to buy German goods in higher volumes, which supports jobs in Germany"

Furthermore, bear in mind that at the recent NATO meeting in Brussels,

" U.S. President Donald Trump laced into Germany ahead of a high-stakes NATO leaders’ summit in Brussels, declaring at a breakfast meeting Wednesday morning that Germany is “totally controlled by Russia” and lashing out at the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project." (David M. Herszenhorn : Politico : 11 July, 2018) (my emphasis)

Added to which, as reported by UNIAN,

"Ukraine and the United States have a common understanding of how to counteract the implementation of the Russian Nord Stream 2 project, which appears a direct threat to the energy security of Europe and worsens the situation with the diversification of energy deliveries to European consumers," the press service of Ukraine's Cabinet said in a statement on Monday, July 23. (UNIAN : 23 July, 2018) (my emphasis)

So the question now is :-

"Will Merkel be swayed to agree to Putin's 'referendum' so that Nord Stream 2 can go ahead unhindred"?

(to be continued)