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Russia Agrees Fresh Prisoner Swap as Ukraine Peace Talks Revived

Russia, Ukraine Commit to Full Implementation of Cease Fire

(Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy breathed new life into efforts to end the violence in eastern Ukraine, agreeing at a summit in Paris on Monday to a fresh exchange of prisoners and the withdrawal of some troops.

Flanked by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Putin and Zelenskiy agreed to meet again in the same format within four months to discuss holding elections in the disputed Donbas region. At the same time, both sides highlighted the serious obstacles to a permanent settlement. Zelenskiy made it clear he demanded Ukraine regain control of its eastern order before any vote. Putin said that the elections must come first.

“We had to work very, very hard, but we’ve achieved a form of momentum,” Merkel said in a four-way press conference at the end of the talks.

Russia Agrees Fresh Prisoner Swap as Ukraine Peace Talks Revived

Negotiators have struggled to make a ceasefire stick along the 500-kilometer (300-mile) contact line where Ukrainian forces have been facing up to Russian-backed separatist fighters for more than four years. The conflict in the Donbas region along the border with Russia has claimed more than 13,000 lives since it began.

Zelenskiy has been pushing for a face-to-face meeting with his Russian counterpart since July. The leaders agreed on an exchange of 35 prisoners each in September in a bid to ease tensions. The Ukrainians who were freed included a filmmaker and 24 sailors while the authorities in Kyiv handed over militants captured during the fighting in Donbas.

Russia Agrees Fresh Prisoner Swap as Ukraine Peace Talks Revived

Along with Putin’s 2014 seizure of the Crimean peninsula, the conflict in eastern Ukraine has become a main point of division between Russia and the West. The U.S. and European Union accuse the Kremlin of stoking the conflict and responded with economic sanctions that are still in place.

Monday’s agreement shows “that the process is moving in the right direction,” Putin said.

Adding to the sense of urgency, the agreement under which Ukraine transports more than 40% of Russian gas to Europe and Turkey expires Dec. 31. Ukraine earns $3 billion a year from the arrangement and wants a new 10-year contract for 60 billion cubic meters of annual shipments. Russian giant Gazprom PJSC is offering a one-year contract on the condition that Ukraine’s state-run energy company Naftogaz drops a $3 billion legal claim.

Talks will continue on trying to reach an accord on the gas issue, according to Russia’s energy minister.

Zelenskiy, 41, sat opposite Putin as the talks began, with Macron to his left and Merkel to his right. Macron held private talks with all three leaders before the full session and at the end of the press conference he put his hand on Zelenskiy’s shoulder as they left together.

Berlin Murder

For Macron, emerging with some evidence of progress and the positive comments from those involved adds weight to his efforts to normalize Europe’s relations with Russia -- an initiative that’s won him harsh criticism in some EU capitals.

“The stability of the European continent and the construction of a new architecture of security and confidence goes with the end of the conflict in Ukraine,” he said. “That’s why today’s talks were important.”

Merkel also took the opportunity to address with Putin the diplomatic fallout from the murder of a Georgian citizen in a Berlin park in August. Her government ordered the expulsion of two Russian diplomats last week after Germany’s federal prosecutor suggested the Russian state was involved in the killing.

On Monday, Putin denied Russia was involved but pledged to collaborate with German investigators.

“We will do everything to understand this and help our German colleagues,” he said. “This man was wanted in Russia. He was a militant, and a very tough and bloody man.”

--With assistance from Patrick Donahue, Helene Fouquet, Volodymyr Verbyany and Kateryna Choursina.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ania Nussbaum in Paris at anussbaum5@bloomberg.net;Daryna Krasnolutska in Kiev at dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net;Ilya Arkhipov in in Paris at iarkhipov@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net

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