Putin to Focus on Ukraine Issue at Asia- Europe Meeting in Milan

Russian President Vladimir Putin will focus on the Ukraine issue when he conducts a series of meetings with Western leaders during the Asia- Europe Meeting in Milan, which begins Thursday.

Presidential foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said that Putin will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday and attend a dinner involving other leaders.  Putin will also meet leaders of Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Ukraine and the European Union at breakfast on Friday. A separate meeting between Putin and the leaders of France, German and Ukraine is also being thought of.

The Asia- Europe Summit takes place at a time when the U.S. and the European Union have imposed a series of economic sanctions against Russia over its takeover of the Crimean Peninsula and support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. 

Putin, in an interview with the Serbian daily Politika released by the Kremlin on Wednesday, brushed off  the  sanctions as an "absurd and illusory" attempt to isolate Russia.

"It is obviously impossible to achieve it, but the economic health of Europe and the world can be seriously undermined," said Putin, reports the Associated Press.

 He also criticized President Obama for saying that Russia was a major threat to humanity along with Ebola virus and the Islamic State.

Putin said that he hoped Russia's partners understood the futility of blackmailing Russia and keep in mind the aftereffects that disagreements among major nuclear powers will bring to strategic stability.

Meanwhile, Obama and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko have decided to pressurize Putin during the Asia- Europe Meeting in Milan to abide by the Minsk Agreement, the White House said.

"Both leaders agreed that the Asia- Europe Meeting in Milan on October 16-17 offers a good opportunity for leaders to press President Putin to abide by all aspects of the peace plan, including putting in place an effective mechanism for controlling and monitoring the border between Russia and eastern Ukraine," the White House statement said, reports RiaNovosti.