Updated March 30, 2014 8:06 p.m. ET
John Kerry, left, stands next to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The two talked for four hours in Paris. Jacquelyn Martin / Press Pool
PARIS—Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart appeared to make no major advances Sunday in a four-hour meeting aimed at easing the standoff over Ukraine, raising the specter of a prolonged crisis that threatens to bring broader instability to Europe.
Mr. Kerry, in remarks after the negotiations, said he received no assurances from the Kremlin that it would pull back thousands of Russian troops amassed on Ukraine's eastern border.
The chief U.S. diplomat and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also didn't appear to reach any major common ground on discussions aimed at revamping Ukraine's political system. Mr. Kerry said his counterpart pledged Russia's desire to de-escalate tensions over Ukraine but offered no specifics.
U.S.-Russia Relations
Read about key events since the Cold War.
"Any real progress in Ukraine must include a pullback of the very large Russian force that is currently amassing along Ukraine's border," Mr. Kerry said. "Tonight I raised with the foreign minister our strong concern about these forces."
Mr. Kerry said he would bring back to Washington proposals laid out by Mr. Lavrov on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
After the talks, Mr. Lavrov was quoted by Russian news agencies saying that although the U.S. and Russia disagreed on the causes of the Ukrainian crisis, they agreed to "seek common ground to resolve the situation in Ukraine."
Sunday's meeting was viewed by the U.S. as a test of whether Russia's surprise overture on Friday, when Mr. Putin called President Barack Obama to discuss a diplomatic resolution, was a genuine effort to start talks or a delaying tactic before another assault on Ukraine's borders.
Mr. Kerry and Mr. Lavrov have been holding discussions for weeks to find ways to defuse the crisis in Ukraine, with the U.S. hoping to remove any pretext for the Kremlin to hive off more territory from the former Soviet state.
In previous meetings, Mr. Kerry had outlined to Mr. Lavrov a potential joint approach to resolving the Ukraine crisis, according to U.S. officials. This included initiatives to stabilize Kiev's economy, promote the decentralization of the country's political system and demobilize pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian paramilitary fighters that have blossomed across the country in recent months.
Still, differences between the two sides on how to revamp Ukraine's political system have appeared stark in recent days.
Russia wants to work with the U.S. to essentially impose a political solution where Ukraine's provinces have greater autonomy, the right to speak the Russian language and the ability to pursue much more independent policies from the central government. U.S. and Ukrainian officials say they worry such a formula could provide the Kremlin with a virtual veto over Kiev's political system.
"We are certain that Ukraine needs profound constitutional reform. In all fairness, we can't see any other way to ensure the stable development of Ukraine but to sign a federal agreement," Mr. Lavrov said in an interview Saturday with Russian state media. "Some may know better and are, perhaps, capable of finding some magic spell to ensure living in a unitary state with people in the West, on the one hand, and the southeast, on the other."
Mr. Kerry said on Sunday that it is up to the Ukrainian government and people to make such decisions, not Washington. Ukrainian officials have said they won't accept such conditions from Moscow.
"Under the muzzles of its rifles, the aggressor demands only one thing: the complete surrender of Ukraine, its division and destruction of Ukrainian statehood," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said in a written statement on Sunday in response to Mr. Lavrov's interview.
The question of Crimea's future also appeared to be largely drowned out during the diplomacy Sunday.
U.S. officials had only a few weeks ago been demanding Mr. Putin reverse his annexation of the territory and pull back his troops. Mr. Kerry on Sunday didn't mention Crimea during his remarks—giving the impression that the U.S. has largely given up reversing the region's absorption into Russia.
Russian officials, meanwhile, said the issue of Crimea was now part of history.
"There was an expressed will of people living in Crimea to be part of the Russian Federation," Moscow's ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "So Crimea is part of the Russian Federation."
Write to Stacy Meichtry at stacy.meichtry@wsj.com
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1og8T7h
0 comments:
Post a Comment