U.S., Russian talks deadlock over Ukraine

Sides’ proposals different, but agree diplomacy is key

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, is greeted by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the Russian Ambassador's Residence to discuss the situation in Ukraine, in Paris, Sunday March 30, 2014. Kerry traveled to Paris for a last minute meeting with Lavrov. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, is greeted by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the Russian Ambassador's Residence to discuss the situation in Ukraine, in Paris, Sunday March 30, 2014. Kerry traveled to Paris for a last minute meeting with Lavrov. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Monday, March 31, 2014

PARIS - The United States and Russia agreed Sunday that the crisis in Ukraine requires a diplomatic resolution, but four hours of talks between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov failed to break a tense East-West deadlock about how to proceed.

Kerry and Lavrov advanced far different proposals on how to calm tensions and de-escalate the situation, particularly as Russia continues to mass troops along its border with the former Soviet republic. As he called for Moscow to begin an immediate pullback of the troops, Kerry also ruled out discussion of Russia’s demand for Ukraine to become a loose federation until and unless Ukrainians are at the table.

“The Russian troop buildup is creating a climate of fear and intimidation in Ukraine,” Kerry said at the home of the U.S. ambassador to France after the meeting. “It certainly does not create the climate that we need for dialogue.”

Kerry noted that even if the troops remain on Russian soil and do not enter Ukraine, they create a negative atmosphere.

“The question is not one of right or legality,” he said. “The question is one of strategic appropriateness and whether it’s smart at this moment of time to have troops massed on the border.”

U.S. officials said Kerry proposed a number of ideas on troop withdrawals from the border and that Lavrov, while making no promises, told him he would present the proposals to the Kremlin.

At a separate news conference at the Russian ambassador’s house, Lavrov did not address the troop issue. Instead, he made the case for Moscow’s idea of Ukraine as a federalized nation with its various regions enjoying major autonomy from the government in Kiev.

Lavrov said Ukraine can’t function as a “unified state” and should be a loose federation of regions that are each allowed to choose their own economic, financial, social, linguistic and religious models.

He said every time Ukraine has elected a new president, the country has adopted a new constitution, proving that “the model of a unified state doesn’t work.”

Washington has encouraged ongoing political and constitutional reform efforts that the government in Kiev is now working on, but U.S. officials insist that any changes to Ukraine’s governing structure must be acceptable to the Ukrainians.

Kerry said the federation idea had not been discussed in any serious way during his meeting with Lavrov “because it would have been inappropriate to do so without Ukrainian input.”

“It is not up to us to make any decision or agreement regarding federalization,” he said. “It is up to Ukrainians.”

“We will not accept a path forward where the legitimate government of Ukraine is not at the table,” Kerry said, adding that the bottom line is: “No decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine.”

Lavrov denied that Moscow wants to “split Ukraine.”

“Federalization does not mean, as is feared in Kiev or other places, an attempt to split Ukraine,” the Russian minister said. “But only an agreement to respect each region, its traditions, its customs, its culture and its language - only this will secure the unity and stability of the Ukrainian state.”

Lavrov said he and Kerry did agree to work with the Ukrainian government to improve rights for Russian-speaking Ukrainians and disarm “irregular forces and provocateurs.”

The talks are part of broader diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis in Ukraine after protests drove out a pro-Russian president and Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in response.

Kerry and Lavrov’s talks were focused less on Crimea and more on preventing further confrontation. For the United States, that means stopping Russian military moves where they are.

The Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, said Sunday that Russia has no intention of withdrawing from Crimea.

“Crimea is a part of [the] Russian Federation,” Kislyak said in an interview on ABC’s This Week.

Kislyak said Ukraine needs to change its constitution to better respect regional differences within the nation.

“It’s a country that certainly needs a revision of the constitution that would include a mechanism where the regions would be heard and their views would be taken on board,” he said.

Earlier this month, it appeared that Kerry’s diplomacy with his Russian counterpart had already run its course.

On March 8, Kerry warned Lavrov in a phone call that a decision by Russia to annex Crimea and to continue its military escalation would “close any available space for diplomacy,” a senior State Department official told reporters.

Yet after Russia formally annexed Crimea in mid-March, the two sides kept talking. With unease in Western Europe about the cost of imposing economic sanctions and anxiety over Russian muscle-flexing near Ukraine’s border, the Obama administration appeared to be looking for the same “offramp” from the crisis that it had been offering the Kremlin.

In recent weeks, the two sides have exchanged proposals and counterproposals. On March 10, the Russians presented their plan for “comprehensive constitutional reform” in Ukraine.

According to the Russian plan put forward early this month, Ukraine’s political system would be federalized. Under that system, governors would be elected, Lavrov said in an interview on Russian television before the meeting with Kerry. And the regions they governed, he added, would have “wide powers” to set economic policy, organize education, and establish “economic and cultural ties with neighboring countries.”

He also pushed for the government in Kiev to include representatives from the east and south of the country, with their heavily ethnic Russia populations, in any process of change. Russian would be made an official language, along with Ukrainian, under the Russian plan. And Ukraine’s constitution, Lavrov added, would formally ensure that the country could never “be part of any bloc” like NATO.

“Ukraine’s government structure has always been overly centralized in Kiev,” said Steven Pifer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who served as the U.S. ambassador in Ukraine from 1998 to 2000.

“The president, for example, appoints provincial governors,” Pifer added. “Some diffusion of power from Kiev to provincial capitals to deal with regional issues would likely promote more efficient, effective and accountable governance. But we should be leery of the Russian position. Moscow does not care about more efficient governance; it wants to create opportunities to meddle in Ukraine’s internal politics.”

The Obama administration delivered its response Monday when Kerry met with Lavrov on the margins of the nuclear summit meeting in The Hague, Netherlands.

U.S. officials said that the document they provided to Lavrov was prepared in consultation with Ukraine’s new interim government.

The U.S. proposal calls for direct talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials, the disarmament of local militias, some of which are supported by Moscow, the deployment of international monitors and a commitment by Russia to “de-escalate” the conflict. U.S. officials are also open to some degree of federalization if it is supported by the Ukrainian side.

Also Sunday, a U.S. official said Washington supports “an independent and European future” for ex-Soviet republic Moldova amid concerns Russia could try and annex the country’s separatist Trans-Dniester region.

Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said that “we support the right of Moldovans to choose their own future.” She said the U.S. wants Moldova to strengthen its economy and implement democratic changes. The U.S. has given Moldova $10 million to secure its borders, but Nuland didn’t provide details. Moldova’s government wants to sign an association agreement with the European Union this year.

Russia and separatist authorities on Friday complained of Ukraine’s recent moves to limit travel across the border into Trans-Dniester, where Russia has 1,500 troops.

In a 2006 referendum, pro-Russian Trans-Dniester said it would like to join Russia.

Information for this article was contributed by Matthew Lee, Angela Charlton and staff members of The Associated Press; by Michael R. Gordon, Neil MacFarquhar, Andrew Roth, Alexandra Odynova and Thom Shanker of The New York Times; by Terry Atlas, Henry Meyer, David Lerman, Greg Giroux and Garfield Reynolds of Bloomberg News; and by Anne Gearan, Josh Hicks and Ernesto Londono of The Washington Post.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/31/2014