...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko have agreed on the need to de-escalate the raging conflict in eastern Ukraine.
The two presidents reached the consensus during their first bilateral talks that were hosted by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in his country’s capital Minsk on Tuesday.
Lukashenko said despite the agreement, fundamental differences remain.
"Most likely, we shouldn’t expect a major breakthrough. But we need a conceptual decision, or order to start moving towards peace," Lukashenko said at a meeting in Minsk with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
He also expressed confidence that "the EU does not object to further dialogue until complete settlement of the situation."
The talks were aimed at de-escalating the worsening crisis in eastern Ukraine that heightened tensions between Moscow and the West, and prompted the United States and EU to slap sanctions on Russia.