Lavrov Meets Kerry over Ukraine, Russian Forces Gradually Withdraws from Border

Local Editor

Ukraine's Defense Ministry said on Monday it has noticed a gradual withdrawal of Russian troops from its border.

"In recent days, the Russian forces have been gradually withdrawing from the border," the Ukrainian defense ministry's general staff spokesman Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskiy told AFP in a telephone interview.

Dmytrashkivskiy said he could not confirm how many soldiers the drawdown involved or the number of troops still station at Russia's border with its former Soviet satellite.

US and EU officials estimated over the weekend that Russia's sudden military buildup along Ukraine's eastern frontier had reached 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers.
The Ukrainian defense ministry official said Kiev had not been formally notified of the drawdown by Moscow and therefore did not know precisely why the troops were being moved.

"This could linked to be a regular rotation of soldiers," said Dmytrashkivskiy.
"Or it may be linked to the Russian- US negotiations."
US Secretary of State John Kerry met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Paris on Sunday for talks that reached no breakthrough on the crisis but ended with an agreement for the sides to resume negotiations again soon.

"We have conducted intensive negotiations in the first place, on the crisis in Ukraine," Sergei Lavrov said after four hours of negotiations with his US Secretary of State John Kerry . "We expressed dissenting views on its causes, but agreed to seek common ground to resolve the situation in Ukraine."
The diplomats shared with each other their suggestions on how to deescalate the situation, but both agreed that the Ukrainian people should take the leading role in deciding their own future.

"We have agreed to work with the Ukrainian government, the Ukrainian people in the broadest sense, to achieve the implementation of such priority measures as minority rights, language rights, disarmament of provocateurs, implementing constitutional reforms and having free and fair elections under international supervision," Lavrov told journalists.

The minister stressed that neither Russia nor the United States can impose any plans on Ukraine, drafted unilaterally without the Ukrainian side.
"We discussed the constitutional reform, in favor of which we stand together with the Americans... And which, as I understand it, the Ukrainian authorities have committed to." Lavrov said.

"We are convinced that federalization is a very important component of this reform, the most important is to ensure the unity of Ukraine taking into account the interests of all regions of the country, without exceptions, so that the country functions as a state. We need to find a compromise, consensus among all regions," he added.
Kerry confirmed that "differences of opinion about events" that led to Ukraine crisis did not stop the sides from looking for ways to de-escalate the security and political situation "in and around Ukraine."

"The US and Russia have differences of opinion about events that led to this crisis but both of us recognize the importance of finding a diplomatic solution and simultaneously meeting the needs of the Ukrainian people, and that we agreed on tonight," Kerry said.

"The question is not one of right or legality, the question is one of strategic appropriateness," Kerry said when asked about Russian troops again. "In the end, obviously, the troops are in Russia, they are on Russian soil."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team