West tried to stage ‘revolution’ in Ukraine: Lavrov

MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday accused the United States and the European Union of being behind a popular uprising in Ukraine that ousted pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych in February.

"In Ukraine the United States and the European Union tried to stage -- let´s call things what they are -- another ´colour revolution´, an operation to unconstitutionally change regime," the Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying.

In an unusually blunt speech at a top university in Moscow, Lavrov said the West was trying to use the Ukraine crisis to weaken Russia.

"Few doubt that we are talking not only about Ukraine´s fate," Russia´s top diplomat was quoted as saying. "They are trying to use Ukraine as a pawn in a geopolitical game."

"Our Western partners, first and foremost the United States, tried to behave as winners in the Cold War and pretend that one can ignore Russia in European affairs and undertake activities that directly damage Russian security interests."

Lavrov accused the West of being biased against Russia, saying Washington and Brussels had sought to tar´s Moscow reputation even before the Ukrainian crisis broke out.

"It is enough to recall the hysterical anti-Russian propaganda which seized the United States and Europe long before the Ukrainian events, their desire to besmirch the Olympic Games in Sochi through every means possible," he said. The West had repeatedly ignored Moscow´s proposals to beef up cooperation in Europe. "As a result, unique opportunities to genuinely overcome a split in Europe have been missed."

Lavrov, Kerry agree to push constitutional reform in Ukraine

 

AP U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, shakes hands with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov before the start of their meeting at the Russian Ambassador's Residence to discuss Ukraine, in Paris on Sunday. Mr. Kerry travelled to Paris for a last minute meeting with Mr. Lavrov.

Russia and the United States have agreed to work for a diplomatic solution in the Ukraine crisis through an "inclusive constitutional reform," the two country’s top diplomats said after their meeting in Paris.

Emerging from four-hour talks at the Russian embassy in the French capital late on Sunday Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry summed up the essence of their agreement in remarkably identical statements even though they spoke at separate press encounters.

After stating that Russia and the U.S. differed on the causes of the crisis in Ukraine, Mr. Lavrov and Mr. Kerry said they had agreed on the importance of «finding a diplomatic solution» towards four priority goals:

- assure minority and language rights;

- disarm irregulars and provocateurs;

- launch an inclusive constitutional reform;

- hold free and fair elections.

The verbatim identical statements would suggest Mr. Lavrov and Mr. Kerry had put their agreement in writing.

While the constitutional reform came closer to the end of the announced list of priorities, it is clearly by far the most important part of the Russian-American agreement.

However, as often is the case with such agreements, the devil is in the detail.

Moscow and Washington seem to have different views on what should be the end result of the constitutional reform process. Mr. Lavrov stated in no uncertain terms that Ukraine should transform itself from a unitary state into a federation with broad autonomy rights for its regions.

Mr. Kerry, for his part, insisted that it is up to Ukrainians to decide "what kind of definitions work for them."

"It’s not up to us to make any decision or any agreement regarding federalisation," Mr Kerry said.

Mr. Lavrov, while agreeing that "nobody can impose any configuration on Ukrainians," made it clear that federalisation was the only way to prevent Ukraine from splitting along the east-west fault lines.

"The west, east and south profess rather opposite values. In order for Ukraine to function as a single state, all its regions without exception must strike compromise," Mr. Lavrov said.

The new Ukrainian government has angrily rejected federalization, saying it would amount to “complete capitulation of Ukraine, its dismemberment, and the destruction of Ukrainian statehood.”

The U.S. opposes the federal structure for Ukraine for the same reason as Kiev does – the reform would give Russian-speaking eastern and southern regions veto power over a possible decision by the central government to join NATO or the European Union.

It remains to be seen who gets the upper hand in the constitutional reform battle, but Russia has masterly played its hand at the Paris talks. Hours after Mr. Kerry voiced “strong concern” about “very large Russian force” near Ukraine’s borders that is “creating a climate of fear and intimidation” and sternly demanded from Mr Lavrov the “drawdown and redeployment” of the forces, Ukrainian media reported that Russia had begun pulling back its troops from the Ukrainian border.

This enables Mr. Kerry to claim diplomatic success, which could well be the main purpose of the Russian force buildup in the first place.

Lavrov snubs Ukrainian but says talks will continue

PARIS: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday resisted Western pressure to meet his Ukrainian counterpart but said talks with the United States and others would continue in coming days.
At the end of a day of intense diplomatic negotiations in Paris, Lavrov left the French foreign ministry without having held a hoped-for meeting with acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya.
The United States, backed by Britain, France and Germany, had urged Lavrov to agree to a face-to-face meeting as a signal of Moscow's willingness to de-escalate the current stand-off with the West over Russia's actions on the Crimean peninsula.
In a short statement, Lavrov said his departure did not mean an end to efforts to resolve the current crisis. "We had a long day of discussions on Ukraine," the veteran Russian diplomat said. "We are all concerned at what it 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 discussions will continue, and that's it."
Lavrov had earlier held two bilateral meetings with US Secretary of State John Kerry. After the second session, the Russian claimed it had been agreed that Ukraine should uphold a February 21 deal signed between now-ousted president Viktor Yanukovich and the opposition.
US officials denied that this had been agreed, insisting that such a deal could be reached only with the involvement of the Ukraine government that has replaced Yanukovich's administration.