US president and German chancellor Merkel hold news conference‘Lethal defensive weapons’ for Ukraine an option, Obama saysMerkel warns ‘no guarantee’ upcoming Ukraine talks will work 1.33pm ET We’re going to wrap up our live coverage of the Obama-Merkel news conference. The two leaders have adjourned to a scheduled working lunch with vice president Joe Biden. Here’s a summary of the news conference: 1.20pm ET Binyamin Netanyahu has reaffirmed his intention to address a joint session of the US Congress next month on the subject of Iranian nuclear talks, despite opposition in both Israel and the US. Read our report from Tel Aviv:At his weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu made no mention of the tensions with Washington but insisted he would “do everything and will take any action to foil this bad and dangerous agreement that will place a heavy cloud over the future of the state of Israel and its security”.He also told a group of French-speaking Likud voters on Sunday night that he would go anywhere in the world where he was invited to speak about the Iranian threat, not just as an Israeli but as a leader of all Jews. 1.13pm ET Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s twitter account was active during Obama’s remarks about his planned upcoming address to Congress and the Iran nuclear negotiations:.@netanyahu tweeting as Obama talking about #Iran. Says always been disagreements between US & #Israel but relationship remained steadfast. 1.10pm ET The Russian foreign ministry’s English-language news page has this brief description:Russian-Egyptian talks will be held on February 10, with plans to address prospects for further developing the full range of bilateral relations, as well as current international issues.The President of #Russia arrived in #Egypt on a two-day official visit - http://t.co/7V1ij1sRrE @Rusembegypt pic.twitter.com/Zosl0PHoZF 1.03pm ET Guardian Moscow correspondent Shaun Walker flags an interview with a Le Monde journalist on the situation in eastern Ukraine:Take ten minutes to watch @benvtk give his extremely sharp thoughts on the current situation in E Ukraine https://t.co/5iBd0qjt00 12.55pm ET That’s a wrap. Obama encouraged a long view on the conflict in Ukraine and patience on Iran: “what’s the rush”? Merkel cautioned that there are no guarantees in negotiations with Russia over Ukraine but that it is essential to make every effort to achieve a diplomatic solution. 12.53pm ET Obama agrees that there are no guarantees in the Ukraine negotiations. As for potential lethal aid falling into the wrong hands in Ukraine, the question to be answered, he says, is, “Is it more likely to be effective than not.”“The United States and Europe have not stood idly by. We have made enormous efforts, enormous investments... in trying to resolve this situation. The Ukrainian people can feel confident that we have stood by them.” 12.51pm ET Merkel on Greece: There will be a EuroGroup meeting on Wednesday and “what counts is what Greece will put on the table.”The German policy is to keep Greece in the zone, she says. “I will wait for Greece to come with a sustainable proposal and then we will talk about this.” 12.49pm ET Merkel is asked what she thinks of these calls in the United States for delivering weapons for the Ukrainians. Obama is asked why he’s so sure that weapons sent to Ukraine would not get into hands of rebels.Merkel answers first. She says the world must “try again and again” for a diplomatic solution. Then she draws an ominous analogy to the Middle East conflict. 12.46pm ET I don’t want to be coy,” Obama says. He and Netanyahu have very real differences around the Iran sanctions.“It doesn’t make sense to sour negotiations a month or two before they’re to be completed,” he says. 12.44pm ET Obama turns to Netanyahu’s planned joint address before US Congress in March.“I talk to him all the time... we have a practice of not meeting with leaders two weeks before their elections. As much as I love Angela, if she was two weeks before an election, she would not have received an invitation to the White House, and I expect she wouldn’t have asked for one.” 12.41pm ET Obama says “The issues now are sufficiently narrowed and sufficiently clarified, that we’re at a point now where, they need to make a decision.”Obama says the P5+1 is presenting a deal to Iran that allows them peaceful nuclear power but ensures that they aren’t pursuing a weapon. 12.39pm ET A question on Iran nuclear negotiations, which call for a rough deal to be agreed to by the end of March and a detailed agreement by the end of June.Obama answers first. He said everybody knew “it would take some time to work through” complicated issues “and a trust deficit.” 12.36pm ET Obama says that nobody wants Russia to fail but on the contrary the hope is for Russia to be stable and grow.“Unfortunately, Russia has made a decision that I think is bad for them strategically, bad for Europe and bad for the world,” Obama says. 12.32pm ET Merkel replies to a question about US surveillance of her phone and other spying in Europe.It sounds like there are no hard feelings. 12.31pm ET Merkel says, “What’s important for me is that we stand very closely together. ... Nobody wishes more for a success than the two of us here who stand side by side.The goal is not just a cease-fire but a new set of rules for observing territorial integrity. 12.28pm ET A question from the German press for Merkel: what is red line across which the Ukrainian army must be armed? And what can the Nobel laureate Obama do more to defuse this conflict? 12.26pm ET Merkel says she and HOllande have decided to “make one further attempt” to secure a diplomatic agreement. She says there’s a chance of a cease-fire and to create conditions to stop civilian deaths.“I myself would actually be not be able to live without having made this attempt.” 12.23pm ET First question: The US is discussing sending lethal weapons to Ukraine. Do you two disagree on this, or is this good cop / bad cop? Obama: “The possibility of lethal defensive weapons is one of those options.” 12.18pm ET On Ukraine, Merkel says the “inviolability of territorial integrity” is a founding principle of Europe.If we give up this principle, the idea of a peaceful Europe crumbles, she says 12.16pm ET On to security issues, Merkel notes it is the 25th anniversary of German reunification.“IT is well worth the effort to stand by one’s values for decades, to pursue those goals. 12.14pm ET Merkel is speaking. She agrees with Obama that the conclusion of a free trade agreement would boost European growth. Germany will come out “forcefully” in favor of an EU-US trade deal, she says. She previews the G-7 summit agenda: Health issues, including the lessons of the Ebola epidemic. The international reply has to be quicker, she says. 12.11pm ET Obama moves on to the fight against the Islamic State fighters, saying Germany would help train counter-terror forces in Irbil and stop travel of foreign fighters through Europe and Turkey to Syria. 12.10pm ET “We agreed that sanctions on Russia need to remain fully in force until Russia complies,” Obama says.“We are making it clear again today that if Russia continues on its current course.. Russia’s isolation will only worsen, both politically and economically.” 12.09pm ET Two issues in particular dominated: Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and the international fight against Isil.“It’s clear that they’ve violated just about every commitment they made in the Misnk agreement,” Obama says. He says Russia has sent more arms, tanks and artillery into eastern Ukraine. 12.08pm ET Obama calls for progress on a new trans-Altantic trade partnership this year. He says he looks forward to hearing Merkel’s plans for Greece and promoting growth in Europe. He says over lunch the two will talk about climate change.This morning the pair discussed global security, he says. The countries will work together to train Afghan security forces. They will hold the Iran sanctions regime in place. 12.05pm ET Obama congratulates “Angela and Germany” on their fourth World Cup title. But the US team “continues to get better with each World Cup, so watch out.” 12.05pm ET There they are, on the CSPAN feed, if not yet on the White House feed above. Obama welcomes “my close friend and partner, Angela Merkel, back to the White House.” 12.02pm ET Two-minute warning before Obama and Merkel appear. 11.57am ET Additional sanctions on Russia or Russian interests has been floated as an alternative or possible complement to arming Ukrainian forces. Such sanctions could further damage a Russian economy already struggling with low oil prices, which have fallen by about half in the last six months. The chart below, via the World Economic Forum, shows the top 15 countries that exported fuel in 2012:What #data tells us about the impact of falling #oil prices http://t.co/yzeOVIWmkV pic.twitter.com/M3RAahxnIN 11.47am ET Michael McFaul is former US ambassador to Russia. He’s a professor now, as his Twitter feed might suggest: "Realists" please note: Putin does not want Ukraine to be a neutral buffer state. Putin wants Ukraine to be a failed state. Big difference.Im no IR theorist but wouldn't arming Ukraine be a classic recommendation of realist "offshore balancing"? @stephenWalt @dandreznerDidn’t realists advocate arming Iraq to balance offshore Iran back in the 1980s? Or is my memory failing me? 11.44am ET Not actually the dialogue. Finally got details of Putin peace plan proposal. pic.twitter.com/lyU5stWe3g 11.40am ET 11.29am ET We’ve embedded a video player that will carry a live feed of the conference atop the blog. Should be about 10 minutes now. 11.26am ET Here’s the photo op before the talks before the news conference before lunch:President Obama and Chancellor Merkel posing for photographers before a meeting in the Oval Office #Russia #Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/ipmanPkdnW 11.22am ET Pace the louder voices on the American side, McCain at the lead, Merkel has said the crisis in Ukraine will not be solved by military means, and that the peace agreement struck last September needs to be implemented. From our report at the weekend:Speaking at the Munich security conference on Saturday, the German chancellor said she wanted to secure peace in Europe with Russia and not against it.Germany has opposed aiding Ukrainian troops for fear of worsening the conflict, which has already cost more than 5,000 lives, but the idea has many supporters in Washington. 11.17am ET The United States first stepped up its joint training with Nato forces in Poland and eastern Europe almost a year ago. That training continues.US Marines prepare for the tank mechanized assault course during Integrated Training Exercise. @USMC pic.twitter.com/Kzm5YUbqTP 11.13am ET Guardian Washington bureau chief Dan Roberts (@robertsdan) measures the appetite within the Obama administration for arming Ukraine. The secretary of state has raised the prospect of “additional assistance” and the incoming secretary of defense has gone further: “[Vladimir Putin] is leaving the global community with no choice but to continue to either put more sanctions in place or to provide additional assistance to Ukraine,” US secretary of state John Kerry said in an interview aired on Sunday. “Hopefully he will come to a point where he realises the damage he is doing is not just to the global order, but he is doing enormous damage to Russia itself.”Incoming US defense secretary Ash Carter went further last week, telling lawmakers he “very much incline[s]” towards arming the Ukrainian government, and questioned whether the administration was “in fact doing enough” to deter Russia from attacking the US Baltic allies in Nato. 11.08am ET Egypt says Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive soon in Cairo for meetings with his Egyptian counterpart, the Associated Press reports.Putin was to meet with European and Ukrainian counterparts in Belarus on Wednesday to address the Ukraine crisis, if diplomats can confirm preliminary terms. It added that both leaders would attend a ceremony Tuesday where several agreements would be signed, although it did not elaborate on the nature of the agreements.Putin last visited Egypt in 2005, when long-term autocrat Hosni Mubarak was still in power. Mubarak was toppled in 2011. 11.01am ET Hello and welcome to our live blog coverage of a joint news conference at the White House with German chancellor Angela Merkel and President Barack Obama. The two leaders are meeting in an attempt, most urgently, to form a united front against Russian aggression in Ukraine. Other areas of bilateral conversation are to include counter-terrorism, the Iran nuclear negotiations, climate change and Germany’s plans for hosting the G7 summit in June. Continue reading...
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