Kerry, Lavrov Seek Deal on Ukraine Crisis
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets his Russian counterpart on Sunday hoping to ease global tensions over the Kremlin's annexation of Crimea and sudden buildup of troops near Ukraine.
The latest attempt to resolve the worst East-West standoff in the post-Cold War era follows a sudden call placed by Vladimir Putin on Friday to U.S. President Barack Obama -- the first by the Russian leader since he sent troops into Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula in response to the February 22 fall in Kiev of a pro-Kremlin regime.
After the call to Obama who was visiting Riyadh, Kerry decided mid-air to divert his Washington-bound flight home Saturday and travel to Paris instead to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Lavrov said ahead of the Paris talks, expected to start at 1630 GMT, that Moscow had "absolutely no intention and no interests in crossing the Ukrainian border."
He called on Western powers to back a proposal for Ukraine's Russian-speaking regions to have greater powers in a "federal" structure.
"If our Western partners are ready, then Russia, the United States and the European Union could form a support group on Ukraine," Lavrov told Russian state television.
This would lead to talks between "all Ukrainian political forces without exception, naturally excluding armed radicals," and would end in a new constitution allowing for a "federal structure" with greater regional autonomy, he said.
Moscow's plan would allow parts of Ukraine to declare Russian as a second official language and secure more independence from Kiev -- a move analysts view as a bid to weaken the authority of what is likely to be a permanent new pro-Western leadership.
A plan outlining how the situation could be resolved has gone through a number of modifications.
A senior State Department official said Sunday that Lavrov and Kerry would "continue the discussion they've been having in the interest of finding concrete ways to de-escalate the conflict."
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov insisted Saturday to the state-run RIA Novosti agency that "it is the United States that is responding to our proposals on Ukraine."
"We have differing views of the situation. Our discussions involve an exchange of ideas, but one cannot say that we have some sort of single approach."
Washington says Moscow put forward a plan on March 10 that has been substantially modified since, and on Monday in The Hague Kerry went "through each point that was made in the Russian proposal with ideas on how to proceed," the State Department official said.
The ideas "include the need for de-escalation, the disarmament of" pro-Kremlin militias in Ukraine and the need for international monitors.
They also include calls for direct dialogue between Russia and Ukraine, constitutional reform and the upcoming Ukrainian elections on May 25.
Obama urged Putin in their call to respond to the proposals in writing.
At the heart of the U.S. initiative is a commitment by Russia to halt its military buildup near its ex-Soviet neighbor --- estimated by U.S. and EU diplomats to have reached between 30,000 and 40,000 soldiers in recent days -- and to order its Crimean forces back to their bases.
Westerns nations would for their part agree to deploy monitors to protect the interests of Russian speakers who Putin says have been coming under increasing attack in southeastern Ukraine.
Moscow has so far rejected direct talks with the new, interim Kiev leaders under the auspices of either Washington or some international contact group.
Lavrov told Russian state television on Sunday that Kiev appears to be strongly resistant to Moscow's solution.
Ukraine's interim Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya "said that our proposals are unacceptable because federalism contradicts the basic principles of his state," Lavrov said after they met for the first time last week in The Hague.
Russia further wants the constitution to proclaim Ukraine a neutral country that will never join forces with NATO -- membership which Kiev's interim leaders say they are not seeking now.
Meanwhile boxer turned opposition leader dropped Vitali Klitschko dropped out of the Ukrainian presidential elections and threw his weight behind business baron Petro Poroshenko.
The charismatic tycoon -- known at home as the "chocolate king" because of his vast Roshen sweets empire -- has a healthy lead in polls over former premier and 2004 pro-democracy Orange Revolution co-leader Yulia Tymoshenko.
Both candidates support Ukraine's future membership in the European Union and are furious over the loss of Crimea -- views that may complicate relations between Moscow and Kiev for years to come.
But Tymoshenko further wants Ukraine to join NATO and advocates trying the Russians responsible for the Crimean incursion at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Source: Agence France Presse
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