Will Ukraine De-escalate?

European leaders, acting independently of Washington and London, moved yesterday to agree on the next emergency meeting to try to hammer out a ceasefire/resolution in Ukraine. A telephone call among the presidents of France, Ukraine, and Russia, along with German Chancellor Merkel, resulted in an agreement for “joint work to prepare the comprehensive measures aimed at settling the crisis in southeastern Ukraine,” aimed at convening a “Normandy format” summit in Minsk Feb. 11. Meetings of experts will occur in Berlin Feb. 9, to be followed by a Contact Group meeting, according to an official statement released by the Kremlin.

President Putin told journalists in Sochi yesterday that “We will be aiming for Wednesday, if by that time we are able to agree on a number of the positions that we recently have been discussing intensely.”

However, during this same timeframe, Chancellor Merkel will be in Washington, D.C., for a meeting with President Barack Obama, who has mooted sending weapons to Ukraine. British diplomats are quoted as indicating the need for more pressure on Moscow, although they have not explicitly demanded the provision of weapons.

Some Washington sources are saying that Obama is expected to make a decision on arming Ukraine after his meeting with Merkel, perhaps as early as later today.

Secretary of State John Kerry has been at pains to deny there is a split between the Europeans, who are urgently pursuing diplomacy, and the United States.

On Feb. 9, the European foreign ministers will also be meeting in Brussels, and are anticipated to endorse further sanctions against individuals from Ukraine and Russia.

Fierce fighting continues in southeastern Ukraine, pitting not only the Ukrainian forces, but the Banderist Nazi “volunteers,” against the local militias. As the Russians and Lyndon LaRouche have consistently pointed out, elimination of that Nazi factor is indispensable, if any kind of peace is to come to the region.