Date: Aug 20, 2018 Source: The Daily Star Putin calls on Europe to rebuild Syria for refugee return Agence France Presse BERLIN: Russian President Vladimir Putin Saturday called on Europe to financially contribute to the reconstruction of Syria to allow millions of refugees to return home. “We need to strengthen the humanitarian effort in the Syrian conflict,” he said ahead of a meeting with his German counterpart Angela Merkel at the government retreat of Meseberg castle 70 kilometers north of Berlin. “By that, I mean above all humanitarian aid to the Syrian people, and help the regions where refugees living abroad can return to.” There are currently 1 million refugees in Jordan, the same number in Lebanon and 3 million in Turkey, Putin said. Germany has accepted hundreds of thousands of migrants since 2015 – the height of the migration crisis – which has weakened Angela Merkel politically as well as split the European Union. “This is potentially a huge burden for Europe,” Putin said. “That’s why we have to do everything to get these people back home,” he added, emphasizing the need to properly restore basic services such as water supplies and health care. Merkel said the priority in Syria was “to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe,” but did not give any further details. Also on the agenda for the two leaders was the Ukraine crisis, which “unfortunately does not advance at all,” Putin said. The Minsk agreements, a peace process sponsored by Germany and France aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine, is at a standstill, Merkel said, pointing at the absence of a “stable cease-fire.” A United Nations mission on the ground, which will also be discussed during the talks, “could perhaps play a pacifying role” in the region, she said. Earlier, Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said he was “relatively optimistic about the chances of a United Nations mission,” telling the Die Welt newspaper: “We want to give a new dynamic to the Minsk process.” Russia is accused by Kyiv and Westerners of militarily supporting the separatists in eastern Ukraine, which it denies. Economic cooperation, particularly over energy, was also billed as a central theme in the discussions. Russia and Germany are partners in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, a project criticized by U.S. President Donald Trump due to Berlin’s reliance on Moscow.