Watch live: Putin and Merkel joint press conference in Sochi

Watch live: Putin and Merkel joint press conference in Sochi
Copyright Bundesregierung/Guido Bergmann/Handout via REUTERS
By Euronews
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold joint news conference after talks in Russian city of Sochi

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Russian President Vladimir Putin hosts German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday in Sochi, to discuss the explosive global issues of Iran, Syria, and Ukraine amid a deepening US-European crisis of confidence.

Here are some key points of the conference:

Ukraine

  • Putin said Russia will keep exporting some gas via Ukraine.

  • German and Russian diplomats will re-examine options for multinational peacekeeping contingent in East Ukraine.

  • German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed there must be guarantees for Ukraine of continued gas transit.

  • Merkel said next step was to get a mandate for a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine.

  • Putin said Nordstream 2 pipeline has nothing to do with politics

 

Syria

  • Merkel said that the next step should be to come up with a common agenda.

  • But the situation was made more complicated after the US withdrawal of Iran nuclear deal.

  • Merkel said she was concerned about Assad decree that could expropriate Syrian refugees and make their return to Syria difficult.

  • Syria needs help rebuilding itself said Putin

Iran

  • When asked if there would be penalties if German companies keep doing business with Iran, Merkel answered that Germany and the US have a "firm trans-Atlantic friendship that will continue".
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