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Japan, Canada leaders visit Kiev ahead of talks without Putin

The leaders of Japan and Canada made a point Saturday of dropping by Kiev on the eve of a major leadership summit from which Russia has been barred over its actions in Ukraine.

But both visits were partially eclipsed by news that Europe’s chief mediator in the Ukrainian crisis was quitting in evident frustration at being unable to broker a lasting ceasefire and instead seeing more intense warfare resume this week.

The Swiss foreign ministry said the top representative from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Swiss national Heidi Tagliavini, “wishes to step down from her position in the near future.”

It gave no further explanation, saying only that the career diplomat — whose one-year mandate was renewed in January — “is currently not available for comments.”

The announcement appeared to underscore increasing worries that a shaky, European-brokered ceasefire agreed in February was now on life support.

This week’s resumption of heavy weapons fire near big cities in the east has killed around 30 Ukrainian soldiers and scores of civilians. The pro-Russian rebels rarely report their exact losses but have also admitted to suffering heavy casualties.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is now trying to mobilise top world leaders meeting in Germany on Sunday into crafting an even tougher response to what he sees as a clear attempt by Russia to either break up or at least severely damage Ukraine.

The fiercely pro-Western Poroshenko spoke on Friday to US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel — one of the architects of the current ceasefire and one of its strongest proponents.

Poroshenko kept up his diplomatic offensive on Saturday, holding talks in Kiev with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as well as his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper.

Both visiting leaders — who will next be attending Germany’s G7 summit of industrialised nations — assured Poroshenko they remained convinced that Russian President Vladimir Putin was breaking international law in Ukraine.

– ‘Sanctions must remain’ –

“Japan, as a country that next year will chair the Group of Seven, will do everything possible to find a peaceful solution to the problems facing Ukraine today,” Abe said during a joint appearance with Poroshenko.

The Japanese leader added through a translator that he respected Ukraine’s “sovereignty, rule of law and territorial integrity”.

The first official trip to Ukraine by a Japanese head of state comes as Tokyo’s relations with Moscow — already battered by a decades-old row over rights to a small chain of islands — are experiencing still further strain.

Japan has contributed nearly $2.0 billion (1.8 billion euros) to a global rescue package for Kiev and has blacklisted Russians it suspects of playing a key role in seizing Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula last year.

Poroshenko called Abe’s visit to Kiev of great “historic and symbolic value”.

“We highly value Japan’s resolute decision not to recognise Russia’s annexation of Crimea,” said Poroshenko.

Canada’s Harper was even more explicit in spelling out his problems with Putin.

“We do not accept the illegal annexation of Crimea and parts of east Ukraine,” said Harper.

“Until the occupying forces are withdrawn and Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty is restored, there must be ongoing consequences for Mr Putin’s regime, and economic sanctions must remain in place.”

Russia angrily denies involvement in Ukraine’s separatist crisis and argues that Crimea’s residents had themselves voted to secede from Ukraine in March 2014.

That referendum followed the deployment of Russian forces across the Black Sea region and has been condemned as illegal by most of the international community.

The annexation also saw Russia get booted from what until then had been known as the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations.

Moscow has since played down the G7’s importance and been trying to forge closer alliances with nations such as China and South American states.