Belarus strongman looks to revive Ukraine peace talks
The authoritarian leader of Belarus visited Kiev yesterday hoping to revive stalled Ukrainian peace talks he has been hosting in order to calm Europe's volatile eastern edge.
But a high-ranking Ukrainian official said Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko will be just as keen to use the trip to build bridges to Europe that ease his dependence on an increasingly isolated Russia.
Two major rounds of negotiations in the Belarussian capital Minsk in September produced deals on a truce and disarmament that granted limited self-rule to the two Russian-speaking regions of eastern Ukraine that rebelled against Kiev in April.
The agreements stemmed the worst fighting but were still followed by at least 1,300 more deaths. The toll from Europe's worst security crisis since the Balkans wars of the 1990s now stands at 4,700 -- a figure UN officials warn is a conservative estimate.
The clashes left Ukraine in economic ruins and have turned Russia in Western eyes into an international pariah that foments conflicts in neighbouring countries that have aspirations to break their bonds with the Kremlin.
Moscow denies backing the insurgents and calls Russian fighters in the war zone "volunteers". It also defends its annexation in March of Ukraine's Crimea region as the product of a referendum and not a covert deployment of troops.
Lukashenko's first visit to Kiev since its historic shift westward last winter comes as EU efforts to get the peace.
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