Diplomats Say Roadmap Reached on Easing Ukraine Tensions
by VOA News April 17, 2014
The U.S. and Russian foreign ministers say a deal has been reached on easing tensions in Ukraine.
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in Geneva after a meeting of top diplomats that an agreement was made on ways to mediate the crisis.
They said the agreement includes disarming groups on the streets and for the provision of monitors to calm tensions. The diplomats said the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will assume a leading role in mediating the crisis.
'We worked hard,' Kerry said, adding it was 'a good day's work.'
'We worked in good faith.' he added.
The news came after hours of talks involving the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, the United States, and the European Union.
Lavrov said amnesty will be given to pro-Russian protesters who participated in an uprising against the government in Kyiv, except those found guilty of capital crimes.
He added that the sides will try to bring about a broad national dialogue so that the rights of people in Ukraine are protected.
Moscow has said it has the right to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine. It accuses the new Ukrainian leadership of being anti-Russian and anti-Semitic and of threatening the rights of pro-Russians.
But senior U.N. human rights official Ivan Simonvic told the Security Council Wednesday that during two trips to Ukraine in March, his team found no widespread attacks against ethnic-Russians.
Moscow calls the U.N. report biased and unfounded.
The tentative agreement could put on hold economic sanctions the West had prepared to impose on Russia if the talks were fruitless
And that would ease international pressure both on Moscow and nervous European Union nations that depend on Russia for their energy.
But Kerry said 'there was no discussion' of the removal of immediate sanctions.
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