31st Mar 2014 05:48
Paris (Alliance News) - US Secretary of State John Kerry made clear Sunday that a solution to the crisis in Ukraine will be acceptable only in close consultation with the new Ukrainian government.
Speaking to reporters in Paris after five hours of talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Kerry said he told Lavrov that Washington still considers Russia's actions in Crimea illegal.
He also reiterated Washington's unease over an estimated 40,000 Russian troops gathered on Ukraine's eastern border, saying any real progress in Ukraine must include a pull back of those forces.
"We believe these forces are creating a climate of fear and intimidation in Ukraine," Kerry said. "It certainly doesn't create the climate we need for dialogue and for the messages sent to the international community and the Ukrainians themselves about the diplomatic channel."
The two men met at the Russian embassy to continue negotiations begun by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama in a telephone call initiated by Putin on Friday.
The US has proposed several measures to defuse the worst tensions between Russia and the West since the Cold War.
In addition to pulling Russian forces back from Ukraine's border, these include sending international monitors to Ukraine to monitor minority rights and promoting a direct Russia-Ukraine dialogue.
Lavrov has denied any plans for a military invasion of eastern Ukraine but stressed that Moscow will defend the rights of Russian speakers in the former Soviet country.
In his comments after meeting Kerry, Lavrov called on the new government in Ukraine to commit to a federal structure and military neutrality.
Lavrov said Ukraine couldn't function as a unified state and therefore should be a loose federation of regions that choose their own economic model, language and religion.
He said every time Ukraine has elected a new president, the county adopted a new constitution.
"This shows that the model of a unified state doesn't work," Lavrov said. "Federation does not mean, as some in Kiev fear, an attempt to split Ukraine. To the contrary, federation ... answers the interests of all regions of Ukraine."
Kerry said he and Lavrov discussed the federalization of Ukraine, but said, "It's not up to us to make any decisions or any agreements regarding federalization. ... Ukrainians will decide their future for themselves, by themselves."
The US and EU imposed targeted sanctions on Russia after it annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine following the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Russian president by pro-EU protesters.
Russia has defended the move as reflecting the will of Crimeans.
The West has threatened more sanctions if Russia, which is reported to be massing troops along the border with Ukraine, makes a gamble for more territory.
Copyright dpa