German Chancellor Angela Merkel's said only this about her talks with Vladimir Putin in Brisbane:
"I had earlier said that there will be a meeting with Russian President [Vladimir Putin]. We have had a very basic and general conversation [on the sidelines of G20 summit] about the entire [Ukrainian] conflict. Obviously, the talks were confidential, which is why I will not go into details."
French President Francois Hollande at the G20 closing presser:
"First it is a problem for Ukraine -- it is a problem of relations between Ukraine and Russia. Then it is a problem between Russia and Europe, between Russia and the world -- with all those sanctions and with an atmosphere, including during this G20, where the Ukraine situation was not discussed during plenary sessions but mentioned during discussions that governments and head of states had on the sidelines. So if we want to open a new chapter or close the one that we know today, we need a solution to the Ukraine crisis."
There is definitely a "retouched" look to this. Just November light in Kyiv, I guess.
Worth watching this:
It is really as if the Kremlin were interested merely in baiting the media and Putin's critics. He flees the summit early, and the Russian president's twitter feed in English opts for this: