Reports: U.S. envoy Nuland to meet with top Putin aide:
Russian state media report that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland is scheduled to meet in Moscow on June 23 with an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Interfax and TASS both report that Nuland’s meeting would be with presidential aide Vladislav Surkov.
There was no immediate confirmation from Washington about the reports.
Surkov, a former deputy prime minister, is now Putin's personal adviser on Moscow's relationships with Ukraine and Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Nuland was in Kyiv on June 22 for talks with Ukrainian government officials about the situation in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed separatists are battling against Ukrainian government forces. (TASS, Interfax)
Steinmeier: Europe threatened by "new divides," urges dialogue with Russia:
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has warned that Europe "is at risk of splitting along new divides."
In an opinion column published in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus marking the 75th anniversary of Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, Steinmeier said that "peace in Europe cannot be taken for granted."
He also urged diplomatic dialogue between NATO and Russia rather than military confrontation.
Steinmeier's commentary was published on June 22 in Russia's Kommersant, Ukraine's Serkalo Nedeli, and Belarus's Sovetskaya Belorussia newspapers.
Referring to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and its support for separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine, Steinmeier said the "unilateral shifting of borders in breach of international law and the failure to respect the territorial integrity of neighboring countries...take us back to the times from which we believed we had escaped, times that nobody can wish for."
On June 18, Steinmeier warned NATO against "warmongering" by staging military exercises on its eastern flanks.
He urged the alliance to replace the training exercises with more dialogue and cooperation with Russia.
Steinmeier said on June 19 that, if the Kremlin does its part to implement the Minsk peace plan for Ukraine, the European Union should gradually phase out sanctions imposed against Russia for its role in Ukraine's crisis. (AP, Reuters)