The Fort Worth Press - German chancellor to meet Putin as Ukraine's fate in the balance

USD -
AED 3.673042
AFN 68.112673
ALL 94.198378
AMD 389.366092
ANG 1.801814
AOA 913.000367
ARS 1003.735016
AUD 1.538462
AWG 1.8025
AZN 1.70397
BAM 1.877057
BBD 2.018523
BDT 119.468305
BGN 1.877057
BHD 0.376794
BIF 2953.116752
BMD 1
BND 1.347473
BOB 6.908201
BRL 5.801041
BSD 0.99976
BTN 84.384759
BWP 13.658045
BYN 3.27175
BYR 19600
BZD 2.015164
CAD 1.39805
CDF 2871.000362
CHF 0.89358
CLF 0.035441
CLP 977.925332
CNY 7.243041
CNH 7.25914
COP 4389.749988
CRC 509.237487
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 105.825615
CZK 24.326204
DJF 178.031575
DKK 7.158304
DOP 60.252411
DZD 134.221412
EGP 49.650175
ERN 15
ETB 122.388982
EUR 0.95985
FJD 2.27595
FKP 0.789317
GBP 0.798053
GEL 2.740391
GGP 0.789317
GHS 15.795384
GIP 0.789317
GMD 71.000355
GNF 8617.496041
GTQ 7.717261
GYD 209.15591
HKD 7.78445
HNL 25.264168
HRK 7.133259
HTG 131.234704
HUF 395.000354
IDR 15943.55
ILS 3.70204
IMP 0.789317
INR 84.43625
IQD 1309.659773
IRR 42075.000352
ISK 139.680386
JEP 0.789317
JMD 159.268679
JOD 0.709104
JPY 154.770385
KES 129.468784
KGS 86.503799
KHR 4025.145161
KMF 472.503794
KPW 899.999621
KRW 1404.510383
KWD 0.30785
KYD 0.833149
KZT 499.179423
LAK 21959.786938
LBP 89526.368828
LKR 290.973655
LRD 180.450118
LSL 18.040693
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.882192
MAD 10.057392
MDL 18.23504
MGA 4666.25078
MKD 59.052738
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3397.999946
MOP 8.015644
MRU 39.77926
MUR 46.850378
MVR 15.460378
MWK 1733.576467
MXN 20.428504
MYR 4.468039
MZN 63.910377
NAD 18.040693
NGN 1696.703725
NIO 36.786794
NOK 11.072604
NPR 135.016076
NZD 1.714237
OMR 0.384846
PAB 0.99976
PEN 3.790969
PGK 4.025145
PHP 58.939038
PKR 277.626662
PLN 4.16352
PYG 7804.59715
QAR 3.646048
RON 4.778204
RSD 112.294256
RUB 104.308748
RWF 1364.748788
SAR 3.754429
SBD 8.383555
SCR 13.699038
SDG 601.503676
SEK 11.036204
SGD 1.346604
SHP 0.789317
SLE 22.730371
SLL 20969.504736
SOS 571.332598
SRD 35.494038
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.748021
SYP 2512.529858
SZL 18.034455
THB 34.480369
TJS 10.647152
TMT 3.5
TND 3.17616
TOP 2.342104
TRY 34.552504
TTD 6.790153
TWD 32.583504
TZS 2659.340659
UAH 41.35995
UGX 3694.035222
UYU 42.516436
UZS 12825.951341
VES 46.55914
VND 25419
VUV 118.722009
WST 2.791591
XAF 629.547483
XAG 0.031938
XAU 0.000369
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.760497
XOF 629.547483
XPF 114.458467
YER 249.925037
ZAR 18.15566
ZMK 9001.203587
ZMW 27.617448
ZWL 321.999592
  • BCC

    3.4200

    143.78

    +2.38%

  • RBGPF

    59.2400

    59.24

    +100%

  • GSK

    0.2600

    33.96

    +0.77%

  • RIO

    -0.2200

    62.35

    -0.35%

  • CMSC

    0.0320

    24.672

    +0.13%

  • NGG

    1.0296

    63.11

    +1.63%

  • CMSD

    0.0150

    24.46

    +0.06%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    6.79

    -0.15%

  • AZN

    1.3700

    65.63

    +2.09%

  • RELX

    0.9900

    46.75

    +2.12%

  • BCE

    0.0900

    26.77

    +0.34%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    13.21

    -0.15%

  • VOD

    0.1323

    8.73

    +1.52%

  • BTI

    0.4000

    37.38

    +1.07%

  • BP

    0.2000

    29.72

    +0.67%

  • SCS

    0.2300

    13.27

    +1.73%

German chancellor to meet Putin as Ukraine's fate in the balance
German chancellor to meet Putin as Ukraine's fate in the balance

German chancellor to meet Putin as Ukraine's fate in the balance

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was due in Moscow Tuesday in search of a diplomatic solution to avoid a war in Ukraine as the West and Russia signalled tentative hopes of an easing in the tense standoff.

Text size:

His talks with Vladimir Putin are the latest in an intense diplomatic scramble to dissuade the Russian leader from attacking his ex-Soviet neighbour Ukraine.

Western leaders consider the Russian troop build-up on its border with Ukraine to be the worst threat to the continent's security since the Cold War, and have prepared a crippling package of economic sanctions in response to any attack on its neighbour.

While Western intelligence officials warned Wednesday could mark the start of an invasion, comments from Putin and his foreign and defence ministers seemed to offer hope of a de-escalation.

During a carefully choreographed meeting Monday with Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said "there is always a chance" of reaching an agreement with the West over Ukraine.

He told Putin that exchanges with leaders in European capitals and Washington showed enough of an opening for progress on Russia's goals to be worth pursuing.

"I would suggest continuing," Lavrov said in televised remarks, to which Putin replied -- "fine".

The Russian leader and his top aides have consistently argued that the current crisis is the result of the United States and western Europe ignoring Moscow's legitimate security concerns.

Russia, which denies any plan to invade Ukraine, already controls the Crimea territory seized in 2014 and supports separatist forces controlling the Donbas region in the east.

The Kremlin insists NATO must give assurances Ukraine will never be admitted as a member and withdraw from eastern European countries already in the alliance, effectively carving Europe into spheres of influence. The United States and its European allies reject the demands.

- 'Crucial window' -

Washington said Russia had strengthened its forces on the Ukrainian border over the weekend but US officials insisted that "diplomacy continues to be viable".

US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed in a call late Monday that "a crucial window for diplomacy" remained.

"The leaders emphasised that any further incursion into Ukraine would result in a protracted crisis for Russia, with far-reaching damage for both Russia and the world," a Downing Street spokesman said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine on Monday to express his serious concern over the heightened tensions and insisted "there is no alternative to diplomacy".

Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border but Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said US defence officials still did not believe Moscow had made a final decision on whether to invade.

Alarm has also been fuelled by recent Russian military exercises, including with Belarus, where Washington said Moscow had dispatched 30,000 troops for more than a week of drills.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin that some of the drills were "ending" and more would end "in the near future", signalling a possible easing of the crisis.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky meanwhile declared Wednesday -- the day US officials warn might mark the start of a feared Russian invasion -- national "Unity Day".

- Digging trenches -

Ahead of his trip to Moscow, Scholz visited Kyiv on Monday, vowing that Berlin and its Western allies would maintain support for Ukraine's security and independence and urging Russia to take up "offers of dialogue".

Germany plays a central role in efforts to mediate in eastern Ukraine, where a gruelling conflict with Russian-backed separatists has claimed more than 14,000 lives.

But Berlin's close business relations with Moscow and heavy reliance on Russian natural gas imports have been a source of lingering concern for Kyiv's pro-Western leaders and Biden's team.

Scholz has hedged against unequivocally backing Biden's pledge to "bring an end" to Russia's new Nord Stream 2 gas link to Germany.

While waiting for diplomacy to bear fruit, near the front line separating Kyiv-held territory from areas under the control of Moscow-backed insurgents in the east, underprivileged children in the care of church groups were helping with war preparations.

"We are digging trenches that Ukrainian soldiers could quickly jump into and defend in case the Russians attack," Mykhailo Anopa, 15, told AFP.

In Moscow, Russians showed no appetite for war.

A growing number of Western countries are withdrawing staff from their Kyiv embassies and urging their citizens to leave Ukraine immediately, while Washington moved its mission west to Lviv.

burs-ach/gw/mtp/oho

H.M.Hernandez--TFWP