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Lavrov Says Kerry Declines Invitation To Russia For Further Talks

March 10, 2014

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has declined an invitation to visit Russia for further talks on the Ukraine crisis.

Lavrov, at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on March 10, said he had been handed proposals by Kerry to resolve the situation which, he said, 'did not completely suit us.'

'Last Friday John Kerry forwarded me a paper I told you about. In it we found a concept [of the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis] which sort of does not really suit us,' Lavrov said. 'It is because [the document] was formulated around the presence of a so-called conflict between Russia and Ukraine and also around the need to recognize the de facto situation. Thus our partners suggest that we proceed from the situation that has been created thanks to the coup [in Kyiv] and take subsequent steps that they find necessary under such circumstances.'

Lavrov provided few additional details on the Washington proposals.

He said that Kerry asked to postpone his visit to Moscow after initially accepting the invitation.

'We invited [Kerry] to come [to Moscow], I believe as soon as today when you said you were ready to meet him. [Kerry] initially accepted our invitation. Then he called me back on [March 8] and said that he wanted to -- as he put it -- postpone his visit because a new additional paper has been put together in Washington. He forwarded it to me yesterday. We analyzed it and, to be honest, we are raising a lot of questions in this regard.'

Moscow says any solution to the Ukraine crisis should be based on an EU-brokered agreement signed by ousted President Viktor Yanukovych on February 21.

Since Yanukovych fled the country, pro-Russian forces have seized control of Ukraine's Crimea and the Crimean pro-Russian regional government announced a March 16 referendum on splitting from Ukraine and joining Russia.

Lavrov said on March 10 that Russia has prepared its own proposals that aim at 'returning the situation into the framework of international law, taking into account the interests of all Ukrainians.'

Earlier in the day, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed concern at what it termed the 'lawlessness' affecting Russians and Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine.

The ministry blamed extremists who it said acted in 'connivance' with the new authorities in Kyiv.

It cited an incident when it said masked men from the ultranationalist Right Sector group opened fire on peaceful protesters in Kharkiv on March 8. Kharkiv police acknowledged a minor incident but said the only link to the Right Sector came from an anonymous phone call.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also complained that police in Dnipropetrovsk had detained seven Russian journalists.

Ukraine's government and Western leaders accuse Moscow of distorting the facts to justify the deployment of its forces in Crimea.

In a show of support for Ukraine's new government, U.S. President Barack Obama will meet Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk at the White House on March 12. Yatsenyuk will address the UN Security Council about the crisis the following day.

Diplomats said the Security Council would meet again on March 10 behind closed doors to discuss the Ukraine crisis, its fifth meeting on the issue in 10 days.

Meanwhile, demonstrations from pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian groups were expected again in eastern Ukraine. The two groups held rival rallies on March 9.

Presidential candidate Vitali Klitschko was pelted with eggs and stones on March 10 by pro-Russian protesters at a rally in support of Ukraine's European integration in the city of Kharkiv.

Based on reporting by Reuters, Interfax, and AFP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/kerry-lavrov-no- meeting-moscow-crimea-ukraine-russia/25291998.html

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Lavrov Says Kerry Declines Invitation To Russia For Further Talks