Six hours of talks between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov failed to produce a settlement to Ukraine's crisis, with Lavrov telling his American counterpart that Russian President Vladimir Putin is waiting for results of the March 16 referendum in Crimea before making an momentous decisions.
At a press briefing in London after the talks, Kerry expressed concern about “hooliganism” and “provocations” coming from pro-Russian forces inside Ukraine and “others who have crossed the border” from Russia into Ukraine.
Kerry apparently got a Russian rebuff to the American request for Russia to pull back troops from Crimea and the military massed near Ukraine’s eastern borders.
“We need to hear a more declarative policty about where Russia is proceding with respect to these troops,” Kerry said in London at a press briefing broadcast live. “I presented a number of ideas that could provide a path forward for all the parties.”
Kerry’s message to Putin: “There are other options and that is what we are continuing to try to say. Until he has made his decision, those options are still alive,” Kerry said.
Even if Crimeans overwhelmingly vote to become closer to Russia on March 16, Kerry said, the question is how Putin “chooses to respect” that decision. He said that Putin can respect the results in a way that preserves the peace, Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and Russia’s interests.
Kerry said it’s up to Ukraine’s government to decide whether to grant Crimea greater autonomy within Ukraine. He said that annexation of the southern Black Sea-Azov Sea peninsula by the Kremlin would lead to common sanctions imposed against Russia by the United States and European Union.
“The United States stands with the people of Ukraine in their desire to make their own choices about their future and to be able to live in unified, peaceful stable, Ukraine,” Kerry said. “The president
has made it clear there will be consequesnces if Russia doesn’t change course.”
Annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea by Russia is a violation of international law that would set a terrible precedent in the world, he said.
Kyiv Post chief editor Brian Bonner can be reached at [email protected]
