European leaders expressed hope today of solving the bloody Ukraine conflict following "positive" talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, only for the Kremlin to berate them as out of touch with reality.
Less than half an hour after host Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had said he was "really positive after this meeting," Moscow shot back that some of Putin's interlocutors had got it completely wrong.
"Unfortunately, some participants ... Demonstrated complete unwillingness to understand the reality in southeastern Ukraine," the state RIA Novosti news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.
"There are plenty of disagreements, plenty of incomprehension," Peskov said, conceding only that the talks would continue.
Peskov's comments were in sharp contrast to Renzi's upbeat account of the early morning meeting between Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the leaders of Britain, France and Germany.
British Prime Minister David Cameron also echoed Renzi's view that the talks were positive, noting Putin had "said very clearly that he doesn't want a frozen conflict and he doesn't want a divided Ukraine."
In that case, Cameron warned, it was up to Putin to prove it, otherwise tough Western sanctions against Russia would have to stay in place.
Further talks between Putin, Poroshenko, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were scheduled for later Friday, French officials said.
"There has been no breakthrough yet," Merkel cautioned.
Putin had looked relaxed and smiled broadly as he arrived for the meeting, just hours after he had warned he could pull the plug on crucial Russian gas supplies to western Europe this winter.
Adding to the negative mood music, the Kremlin had then said that a meeting between Putin and Merkel that ran into the early hours today revealed "serious differences" over Ukraine.
More than 3,600 people have died in fighting in eastern Ukraine since Russia annexed Crimea in March, with an early September ceasefire and peace accord signed in Minsk by Kiev and pro-Russian rebels proving highly tenuous.
A string of European leaders emphasised that it was primarily up to Russia to ensure the Minsk agreements were implemented.
