WorldGerman leader Angela Merkel urged Russia's Vladimir Putin in a telephone call on Tuesday to use his influence on separatists in eastern Ukraine to stop the violence there, and the two agreed on the need for new ceasefire efforts, a German government spokesman said. Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists have both blamed each other for the latest flare-up in a conflict that has killed some 10,000 people since April 2014. Merkel and French President Francois Hollande have long tried to broker an end to the conflict but the two-year-old Minsk peace deal has merely locked the two sides in a stalemate. Ukraine and NATO accuse the Kremlin of fuelling the conflict by supporting separatists with troops and weapons - a charge it denies. Kiev is nervous that U.S. President Donald Trump will shift the political balance in Russia's favour and that he may consider lifting sanctions against Moscow.

Source: Sunday Times February 07, 2017 14:54 UTC