PARIS // The US secretary of state John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov met in the French capital on Sunday in a bid to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, as Russia insisted the former Soviet republic remain neutral and adopt a federal government.
American officials said Mr Lavrov may provide Mr Kerry with written responses from the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to questions he presented when the two foreign ministers met on March 24 in The Hague. The US goal is to determine specific measures to de-escalate the conflict, said a state department official who was directed to comment.
“Thank you everybody,” Mr Kerry said before he and Mr Lavrov entered the home of Russia’s ambassador in Paris to hold talks on Sunday evening. Mr Lavrov, in English, said: “Good luck, and good night.”
The meeting follows a phone conversation between Mr Putin and the US president Barack Obama on Friday.
Issues under discussion include pulling back Russian troops recently deployed near Ukraine’s eastern border – estimated by the US to number 40,000, increasing international monitors in Ukraine, launching a direct dialogue between Russia and the new government in Kiev, and advancing the process of constitutional reforms and May 25 national elections, the US state department official said.
The fate of Crimea has largely faded from the agenda since Russia this month annexed the Russian-speaking region.
Russia wants Ukraine to grant greater powers to its regions, have a non-aligned status outside Nato and make Russian a second official language, Mr Lavrov said on his ministry’s website yesterday.
He said Russia, the US and EU nations are moving toward a joint initiative that may be submitted to Ukraine.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry on Sunday dismissed Mr Lavrov’s proposals and said Russia should deal with issues within its own borders before forcing them on its neighbour. Russia could give its regions and minorities more autonomy, including by introducing Ukrainian as an official language, the ministry said.
The US official said said US proposals to the Russians are being fully coordinated with the Ukrainian government.
Voicing concern that pro-Kremlin troops massing on Ukraine’s borders may invade, the US and European Union have vowed to intensify sanctions on Russia’s military, energy and financial industries. Russia faces “a raft of new measures” that “would seriously hurt the Russian economy” if they push further into Ukraine, the British defence secretary Philip Hammond told the BBC on Sunday.
During their phone call on Friday, Mr Obama told Mr Putin that a diplomatic solution “remains possible only if Russia pulls back its troops and does not take any steps to further violate Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” the White House said.
Mr Putin highlighted a “rampage of extremists” intimidating officials and residents “in various regions”, according to a statement from his Kremlin office, and indicated he was willing to examine “steps the global community can take” to stabilise Ukraine.
* Bloomberg News
