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".