Ukraine crisis talks draw blank
Russia is on a collision course with the US and EU over Ukraine after intensive talks aimed at defusing the crisis ended without any significant progress.
American Secretary of State John Kerry warned of “consequences” after counterpart Sergey Lavrov insisted Moscow would not consider shifting its position until after a controversial referendum in the Crimea this weekend.
After five hours of face-to-face talks in London, Mr Kerry said he had put a series of “constructive ideas” on the table about how to ease tensions, but been knocked back.
“After much discussion the foreign minister made clear that President (Vladimir) Putin is not prepared to make any decision regarding Ukraine until after the referendum on Sunday,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mr Lavrov told a separate press conference that the poll on whether Crimea should become part of Russia should be “respected”.
Speaking through an interpreter, he said: “We expressed our opinion that we will respect the will of the Crimean people on March 16.”
Mr Lavrov rejected Western calls for the creation of an international contact group on the Ukraine to resolve the crisis.
“We think that this a wrong approach. The crisis was not caused by Russia,” he said.
“We do not need an international structure to look into Ukrainian-Russian relationship. The relationships have never been ceased.
“What happened in Kiev when the legally elected president was overthrown, we had some complications but Russian President Putin encourages the Russian government to work side by side with the Ukrainian minister. The framework of foreign ministers contacts were never ceased, so any questions there are could be raised in direct dialogue.”
Mr Lavrov insisted Moscow had “no plans of military intrusion into eastern Ukraine” after being asked about the clashes in the city of Donetsk, which erupted when protesters chanting pro-Russian slogans broke through a police cordon to a demonstration being staged by anti-Russian groups.
But he also compared the situation in Crimea to Britain’s action in the Falklands.
“Are there precedents in international law? There are precedents of course. Everybody understands that Crimea for Russia is something really important, what it means for Russia,” he said.
“It means immeasurably more for Russia than the Falklands means for the United Kingdom or Comoros for France.”
