Kerry, Lavrov seek deal on Ukraine crisis
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 US 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 US initiative is a commitment by Russia
to halt its military buildup near its ex-Soviet neighbour --- estimated by US
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.
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