Russia will not invade eastern Ukraine, foreign minister says

Russia said on Saturday 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.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking on Russian television, reinforced a message from President Vladimir Putin that Russia would settle - at least for now - for control over Crimea despite massing thousands of troops near Ukraine's eastern border.

'We have absolutely no intention of - or interest in - crossing Ukraine's borders,' Lavrov said.

But he added 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.

The West has threatened tougher sanctions targeting Russia's stuttering economy if Moscow sends more troops to Ukraine. Russia's reinforcement of troops near Ukraine has brought the total forces there to as many as 40,000, U.S. officials estimated on Friday in a build-up that has increasingly worried Washington in recent days.

In a sign, however, that Putin may be ready to reduce tensions, the Russian leader called U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday to discuss a U.S. diplomatic proposal for Ukraine.

It was believed to have been the first direct conversation between Obama and Putin since the United States and its European allies began imposing sanctions on Putin's inner circle and threatened to penalize key sectors of Russia's economy.

The U.S. has been pressing Russia to pull back its troops to their Crimean bases and agree to talks with the Ukrainian government with international mediation.

'President Obama suggested that Russia put a concrete response in writing and the presidents agreed that Kerry and Lavrov would meet to discuss next steps,' the White House said.

The Kremlin said Putin had suggested 'examining possible steps the global community can take to help stabilise the situation.'

That was followed by a phone call on Saturday between Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. It said they discussed Ukraine and the timing of further contacts on a call initiated by Washington.

Klitschko drops out of presidential race

Ukraine remains deeply divided over protests that led to Yanukovich's ousting and many eastern Russian-speaking regions are skeptical about the policies of the new pro-Western government in Kyiv.

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 May 25.

That election is shaping up as a context between former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and billionaire confectionary oligarch Petro Poroshenko, after boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko withdrew on Saturday.

Speaking on Saturday, Poroshenko said the political forces that brought down Yanukovich must stick together to tackle the huge economic and security challenges facing Ukraine.

'I'm convinced it would be a betrayal of Maidan [anti-government protest movement] if we were not united,' he told a meeting of Klitschko's party, Interfax news agency reported.

'I'm convinced that today the volume and scale of the challenges facing the state ... demand this kind of unity.'

'The Chocolate King' Poroshenko

Poroshenko, whose net worth was estimated by Forbes at $1.3 billion, is the owner of Roshen, one of the world's top twenty confectionery firms but which has borne the brunt of trade sanctions from Russia since last year.

He is an experienced politician, having held several ministerial posts including a brief stint as economy minister under Yanukovich.

A prominent backer of the 2004-05 Orange Revolution against the election fraud and alleged corruption of Ukraine's post-Soviet establishment, Poroshenko campaigned for the role of prime minister in its wake, but lost out to Tymoshenko, who co-led the revolution.

Klitschko urged his supporters to back Poroshenko, and announced he would run instead for mayor of the capital. So far, no other candidate is seen mounting a serious challenge to the two front runners.

The parliamentary faction Party of Regions, Ukraine's former ruling party, also announced its candidate on Saturday.

Deputies voted for Mykhailo Dobkin, a businessman and former governor of the eastern city of Kharkiv, who fiercely opposed the Maidan uprising.

'Deep constitutional reform'

Lavrov called for 'deep constitutional reform' in Ukraine on Saturday, a sprawling country of 46 million people divided between those who see their future in closer ties with Europe and mainly Russian speakers in the east who look to former Soviet master Russia.

'Frankly speaking, 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.

With files from news3blog.blogspot.com