The parties that reached an accord in Geneva say the agreements are being violated. But despite this fact, the signing of the Geneva Statement hiked the Russian stock indexes. Right after the document had been made public, the Russian stock market rallied over 2%. The benchmark MICEX Index rose 2.19% to 1358.84, the other major index – the RTS – added 2.64% to 1203.53. Investor optimism was largely triggered by the positive results of the four-party meeting of Russia, the United States, the European Union and Ukraine in Geneva. Eight hours of negotiations between heads of foreign policy departments of the four countries produced an act according to which all the parties “agreed on initial concrete steps to de-escalate tensions and restore security for all citizens in Ukraine”. The news supported the Russian stock exchange, but the greenback and euro has still been appreciating against the ruble. The European currency went up by 5 kopecks to 49.1 rubles, the American dollar gained 11 kopecks to 35.5 rubles. US President Barack Obama noted one of the crowning achievements made within the negotiations – that there is a chance for a diplomatic solution of the conflict. At the same time, the situation needs a reality check as presently nothing is for sure. The American leader announced another package of sanctions against Russia in case the latter refuses to take steps to reduce tensions. The Western counterparts – Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and UK Prime Minister David Cameron – supported Obama, but expressed hopes that the situation in South-Eastern Ukraine will stabilize without military actions.
