Russian - Ukraine peace talks in Minsk

A Ukrainian soldier with Ukrainian national trident tattoo on his arm smokes a cigarette on the outskirts of Luhansk, Ukraine, 20 August 2014.Photo: PAP/EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY

This week it was announced that Russia would invite Ukraine and high-ranking officials from the EU to attend a summit in the Belarusian capital of Minsk on the Eurasian Customs Union.

As John Beauchamp reports, hopes are pinned on a diplomatic breakthrough between Russia and Ukraine, although with talks centred around trade, Russia may instead have to answer questions over its handling of sanctions which it imposed on the EU and other countries.

“I don’t think that Russia’s in any state to force Ukraine to do anything at the moment,” says Edward Lucas, author of ‘The New Cold War’ and editor at London’s The Economist weekly, adding that “it’s worth remembering that the bi-product of this war in eastern Ukraine has been a huge knock to Russia’s prestige among its friends and allies.”

There probably won’t be any diplomatic breakthrough between Russia and Ukraine on the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine either, as Warsaw University’s Dr Szymon Kardaś says that “the parties which are to meet in Minsk [...] have completely different aims, so finalising a any kind of compromise will be very difficult to achieve.”