Kerry Urges Russia To Hold Talks With Ukraine

Secretary of State John Kerry has renewed his call for Russia to engage in direct talks with Ukraine after a failed attempt to bring together the countries' foreign ministers in Paris.

Mr Kerry and fellow Western diplomats from Britain, France and Germany hoped such a meeting could have helped start resolving the crisis in Ukraine's Crimea region.
The top US diplomat acknowledged afterward that he had "zero expectations" that the two sides would sit down, but that some small successes were made in negotiations with each side.

He said: "All parties agreed today that it is important to try to resolve these issues through dialogue."
Mr Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met briefly throughout the whirlwind day of talks, which ended with "no agreements".
"We met today to discuss these issues because we cannot and will not allow the sovereignty of the county of Ukraine to be violated and for those violations to go unanswered," Mr Kerry said.
He said he told Mr Lavrov that Russia made a "bad choice" to move troops into Crimea.
"Russia can now choose to de-escalate this situation, and we are committed to working with Russia together with our friends and allies in an effort to find the road to de-escalation.
"We renew our call for Russia to speak directly with the government of Ukraine, to send troops back to their bases and to welcome international observers and human rights monitors.
"Ukraine's territorial integrity must restored and must be respected."
Wednesday's talks marked the first time Mr Kerry and Mr Lavrov met face to face since Russian troops effectively took control of Ukraine's Crimea region.
 As Mr Lavrov left the French Foreign Ministry, he said: "We are all concerned at what is happening there.
"We agreed to continue those discussions in the days to come to see how best we can help stabilise, normalise the situation and overcome the crisis."
The stakes in the rapidly escalating crisis have risen steadily since the departure last month of Ukraine's pro-Russian president after months of street protests.

Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Obama administration is taking steps to support US allies in Europe in response to the crisis.
Mr Hagel said the US is stepping up joint aviation training with Polish forces and increasing its participation in Nato's air policing mission in its Baltic countries.
He told the committee he plans to speak with Ukraine's defence minister later on Wednesday, adding that Joint Chiefs Chairman General Martin Dempsey earlier spoke to his Russian counterpart.
Mr Hagel and Gen Dempsey focused their remarks to the committee on pursuing a diplomatic resolution in Ukraine, and neither mentioned military options.
Gen Dempsey said: "I urge continued restraint in the days ahead in order to preserve room for a diplomatic solution."

So far, President Barack Obama's threats of economic sanctions, along with a series of other modest measures have done little to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to pull his forces back from Crimea.
Mr Obama and his advisers insist they still have an array of options at their disposal, the most stringent being economic sanctions that could go into effect as early as this week.
The European Union appears to be treading more cautiously, but the bloc's 28 leaders are set to decide on initial sanctions at an emergency meeting in Brussels on Thursday.
In Washington, Mr Hagel's predecessor, Robert Gates, said he was pessimistic about a quick solution between the West and Russia.
The former CIA chief told CBS News that Mr Putin "knows exactly what he's doing. He's trying to re-establish Russian influence and a measure of control over the former states of the Soviet Union".