Halfway home from Saudi Arabia, US secretary of state John Kerry has abruptly changed course. He will now stay in Europe for talks on Ukraine.
The news followed reports from Russia that Kerry had spoken to the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, by phone, a day after President Vladimir Putin called President Barack Obama. The Russian foreign ministry said Washington had initiated the call between Kerry and Lavrov, adding that they discussed Ukraine and plans for further contact.
Flying from Riyadh to Ireland for a refuelling stop, Kerry decided to turn around after speaking to Lavrov from the plane. State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki confirmed on Saturday that Kerry had arrived in Paris and that the meeting would be held on Sunday.
Kerry had been due to return to Europe on Tuesday for a Nato foreign ministers meeting. The secretary of state was in Riyadh, as well as Rome and the Hague, with Obama this week, but was traveling on his own, including a side trip to Jordan to work on salvaging foundering Middle East peace talks while Obama visited Brussels.
Psaki said Kerry would remain in close touch with Martin Indyk, the US ambassador to Israel, and the negotiating team in Jerusalem and Ramallah, West Bank, in case he needed to return to the region from Paris before the Nato meeting.
Obama left for Washington Saturday with much left unresolved, but officials said he made progress during his trip to Saudi King Abdullah's desert oasis, as well as with European leaders. The president's advisers were particularly bullish about his meeting in the Netherlands with G7 allies, which agreed to indefinitely suspend Russia from the larger G8.
"There's been a lot of movement in the last several days that suggest that Europe has been stirred to action by the events in Ukraine, and I think the president felt a degree of unity in that G7 meeting, in the EU session at Nato, and then with the individual leaders that he met with," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser.
On Friday, the White House provided a readout of the call between Obama and Putin which read: “President Putin called President Obama today to discuss the US proposal for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in Ukraine, which Secretary Kerry had again presented to Foreign Minister Lavrov at the meeting at the Hague earlier this week … the presidents agreed that Kerry and Lavrov would meet to discuss next steps.
“President Obama noted that the Ukrainian government continues to take a restrained and de-escalatory approach to the crisis and is moving ahead with constitutional reform and democratic elections, and urged Russia to support this process and avoid further provocations, including the buildup of forces on its border with Ukraine.
“President Obama underscored to President Putin that the United States continues to support a diplomatic path in close consultation with the government of Ukraine and in support of the Ukrainian people with the aim of de-escalation of the crisis. President Obama made clear that this remains possible only if Russia pulls back its troops and does not take any steps to further violate Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
On Saturday, Russia said it had "no intention" of invading eastern Ukraine, responding to western warnings over a military buildup on the border following Moscow's annexation of the Crimean peninsula. Lavrov, speaking on Russian television, reinforced a message from Putin that Russia would settle – at least for now – for control over Crimea despitemassing thousands of troops near Ukraine's eastern border. "We have absolutely no intention of – or interest in – crossing Ukraine's borders," Lavrov said.
He added, however, that Russia was ready to protect the rights of Russian speakers, referring to what Moscow sees as threats to the lives of compatriots in eastern Ukraine since Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovich was deposed as president in February.
Western powers imposed sanctions on Russia, including visa bans for some of Putin's inner circle, after Moscow annexed Crimea this month following a referendum, deemed illegal by western nations, on union of the Russian-majority region with the Russia. The west has threatened tougher sanctions targeting Russia's stuttering economy if Moscow sends more troops to Ukraine.
Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, in an interview with Germany's Focus magazine, said the alliance was "extremely worried", adding: "I fear that it is not yet enough for him [Putin]. I am worried that we are not dealing with rational thinking as much as with emotions, the yearning to rebuild Russia's old sphere of influence in its immediate neighbourhood."
Putin's call to Obama, however, may be a sign that the Russian leader is ready to reduce tension in the worst east-west standoff since the Cold War. The Kremlin said Putin had suggested “examining possible steps the global community can take to help stabilise the situation”.
Ousted president Yanukovich called on Friday for each of the country's regions to hold a referendum on their status within Ukraine, instead of the presidential election planned for 25 May.
That election is shaping up as a context between former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and the billionaire Petro "the Chocolate King" Poroshenko, after boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko withdrew on Saturday. Klitschko said he would support Poroshenko.
Lavrov called for "deep constitutional reform" in Ukraine, a sprawling country of 46 million people. "Frankly, we don't see any other way for the steady development of the Ukrainian state apart from as a federation," Lavrov said. Each region, he said, would have jurisdiction over its economy, finances, culture, language, education and "external economic and cultural connections with neighbouring countries or regions".
There was also a bid for regional devolution within Crimea. Its Tatar community, an indigenous minority who were persecuted under Soviet rule and largely boycotted last month's referendum on joining Russia, want autonomy on the Black Sea peninsula, the Tatar leader said on Saturday.
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