Angela Merkel will today seek to heal a major rift in the western alliance when she pitches her plan for peace between Ukraine and Russia to a sceptical President Obama.
The German chancellor will arrive in Washington to explain the initiative for an agreement that America fears will reward President Putin’s aggression.
A meeting with Mr Putin and President Poroshenko of Ukraine, agreed yesterday, will take place in Belarus on Wednesday to cement the proposed deal, which is poised to entrench gains made by pro-Russian separatists in the east of Ukraine. Mr Obama, who is under pressure from many in his administration to provide military aid to Kiev, is sceptical about the plan.
Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, accused Mr Putin yesterday of acting “like