From AP:
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says Russia hasn't done enough to have two warships ordered in France delivered.
The delivery was suspended by France after coming under intense pressure from its allies to suspend the sale because of tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Russia is accused of supplying pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine with manpower and weapons.
After meeting Czech counterpart Bohuslav Sobotka, Valls said through an interpreter Monday: "We have interrupted the delivery for diplomatic reasons."
Valls says the issue wasn't likely discussed by President Francois Hollande during Saturday's impromptu meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow but that France's "goal and priority is a long-term political solution" of the Ukraine crisis.
From our newsroom:
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has reiterated that his country does not recognize last month's treaty between Russia and Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia.
The treaty, signed on November 24, says that an armed attack on Abkhazia will be considered an armed attack on Russia, and vice-versa.
It calls for the creation of a joint Russian-Abkhaz military force within a year, and for Russian funding to modernize Abkhazia's military.
Steinmeier, speaking in Tbilisi on December 8, said: "We would like to confirm this once again and we do not recognize this agreement at all."
Moscow recognized Abkhazia and another Georgian breakaway territory, South Ossetia, as indepedent states in 2008.
That move came after Russia and Georgia fought a brief war over South Ossetia.
Russia has stationed some 4,000 troops in Abkhazia.
Steinmeier also said on December 8 that Georgia, which signed an association agreement with the European Union in June, is "one step closer" to obtaining visa-free travel in the EU for its citizens.
Based on reporting by Interfax and interpressnews.ge
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Georgian Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili speaking to reporters in Tbilisi today, via Reuters:
Steinmeier: "One cannot be too optimistic, in the last talks that I had in Kyiv and Moscow and more recently in Vienna and Basel with the Russian Foreign Minister [Serge Lavrov] there were perhaps small signs that we could achieve some small easing in the coming days and weeks. Not much more than a slowing-down [of the fighting] but I say, at least that."
Steinmeier: "We could achieve this if we focus consequently on one element of the Minsk Agreement and manage to put it into practice and that is to fix a line of disengagement from which fighters and heavy artillery are obliged to withdraw."
Beruchashvili: "Our German colleagues share our deep astonishment with Russia's recent actions that violate Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as international law. Signing of the so-called strategic partnership and integration agreement between Moscow and Abkhazia's de-facto leadership is Russia's clear intention to continue the occupation and annexation policy and also to prevent Georgia's successful integration into European structures."
From our newsroom:
Ukraine Says Russia Vows To Resume Gas Supplies This Week
Plenty of exotic delicacies on display at the GUM department store near Red Square, it appears, despite the bans on many of those Western goods.