Putin cautions against "mutual estrangement" in note to Merkel
Moscow (dpa) - Germany and Russia need to make sure they maintain their close relationship amid the "current complicated international situation," warns Russian President Vladimir Putin as he congratulated Germany on 25 years since reunification.
Without naming such hotspots as Ukraine and Syria -- where the two have come down on different sides, at times amid ratcheting tensions -- he says the two countries need to guard against "mutual estrangement."
Instead, the two countries need to safeguard the positive potential between them, writes Putin in a telegram to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and German President Joachim Gauck.
"The unification of Germany a quarter of a century ago meant the end of the Cold War in Europe and opened up a new chapter in the history of our relations," Putin writes, according to a Kremlin statement.
Russia energy min: discounted gas price for Ukraine in Q4 around $230
SOCHI, Russia, Oct 3 (Reuters) -- Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Saturday that the discounted price Ukraine would pay for Russian gas supplies in the fourth quarter would be around $230 per thousand cubic metres, plus or minus $2 or $3.
Novak made the comments to journalists at an investment conference in the southern Russian city of Sochi.
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
Kyiv, Rebels Expected To Start Pulling Back Small-Caliber Weapons
Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed rebels are due to begin withdrawing small-caliber weapons from the front lines in the east of the country on October 3.
Such a move is spelled out in the Minsk peace agreement reached in the Belarus capital back in February. That agreement has been largely flaunted, especially its cease-fire. But fighting has for the most part ceased in recent weeks. Plus, an agreement was reached earlier this week on withdrawing tanks and other weapons.
Pro-Russia rebels in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine announced on October 3 that they were pulling tanks back from the buffer zone.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko confirmed the government would begin pulling small-caliber weapons -- arms with a caliber of less than 100 millimeters -- on October 3 and that the process would take 41 days.
Asked if the pullback signaled an end to the conflict, Poroshenko said: "It means there's a truce. The war will be over when the last piece of Ukrainian land has been liberated."
Poroshenko was speaking after a summit with the leaders of Russia, France, and Germany in Paris on October 3 to assess the Minsk peace agreement.