Ukraine crisis: US, Russia agree on need for diplomatic solution

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will open talks with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in Paris Sunday in the latest attempt by Washington to defuse an ongoing conflict with Moscow over future of Ukraine.

Kerry arrived in Paris from a refueling stop in Shannon, Ireland. He had been on his way to Washington from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia when he decided to travel to Paris for the talks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed the meeting between the top diplomats Friday in a surprise phone call to President Barack Obama, which occurred while the latter was traveling in Saudi Arabia.

The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that U.S. officials have been divided over whether Putin's call was indicative of a genuine desire to ease tensions between East and West or a pretext for further military action in Eastern Europe.

White House officials described the call as 'frank and direct' and said Obama had urged Putin to offer a written response to a diplomatic resolution to the Ukraine crisis that the U.S. has presented. Obama also urged Moscow to scale back its troop build-up on the border with Ukraine, which has prompted concerns in Kiev and Washington about a possible Russian invasion in eastern Ukraine.

The Kremlin, on the other hand, said Putin had drawn Obama's attention to a 'rampage of extremists' in Ukraine and suggested 'possible steps by the international community to help stabilize the situation' in Ukraine.

Kerry has repeatedly met with Lavrov over the past month in attempts to halt Russia's annexation of Crimea. However, those talks have proven fruitless, and U.S. officials tell the Journal that Putin is likely to demand that the U.S. accept Russia's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula earlier this month as the minimum necessary for any cooperation between the two nations.

In previous meetings, Mr. Kerry has outlined to Mr. Lavrov a common approach to resolving the Ukraine crisis, U.S. officials told the Journal. This included joint initiatives to stabilize Kiev's economy, promote the decentralization of the country's political system and demobilize pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian paramilitaries that have blossomed across the country in recent months. However, those proposed initiatives have been contingent on the unlikely event of Russia pulling back from Crimea.

Mr. Lavrov on Saturday said in an interview with Russian state television the Kremlin has no intention to send more troops into other areas of Ukraine, despite the deployment of tens of thousands of Russian troops on its eastern border.

The Soviet-trained diplomat, echoing previous Russian justifications for its actions, said Russia has an obligation to protect ethnic Russians and Russian speakers in Ukraine. And he said Kiev must embrace fundamental political changes, including transitioning to a federated state, with greater power for the country's various regions.

news3blog.blogspot.com contributed to this report. Click for more from The Wall Street Journal