Russia: US Responsible for Ukraine Crisis, Kerry Tells Lavrov of Deep Concern

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Russia's envoy to the UN , Vitaly Churkin, stressed that the US is to blame for the events in Ukraine as it invested $5 billion in regime change in the country, taking a more radical stance that its EU allies.

"It seems it was the Americans, who tried to push through the most radical scenario," Churkin said in an interview with Rossiya 24 channel.

"They didn't want any sort of compromise between [ousted President Viktor] Yanukovich and the opposition. And, I think, they came to the conclusion that it was time to cash in those $5 billion and handle the matter towards abrupt regime change, which, eventually, happened."

He further added: "This explains why the US, but not the European Union, took center stage when the coup resulted in legal vacuum in Kiev."

US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland told CNN on Monday that Washington has invested around $5 billion into supporting democracy in Ukraine since the fall of Soviet Union.

But Churkin has doubts about Nuland's claims, saying that "any sane person would, at least, say that those investments didn't pay off."
"If those $5 billion were spent on support of democracy, but not overthrow of the existing government and regime change, then no democracy has triumphed there [in Ukraine]," he explained.
'Washington's money, radical approach led to a completely unexpected result'
The Maidan standoff was "a head-on attack" by the US and its Western allies aimed at distancing Russia and Ukraine from each other, Russia's envoy to the UN said.
However,
 it failed and "led to a completely unexpected result for them when Crimea was reunited with Russia," he stressed.
"One has to be naïve to suggest that it all happened fast," Churkin said of the deal on the de-escalation of the Ukraine crisis, which Kiev agreed with Russia, the US and EU on April 17.

But at the same time, he stressed that consultations between Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his American counterpart John Kerry "weren't in vain" as the agreement "provided good basis for further growth."
"Despite all their recurrent adventurism, they [the US] realize that peace is rather fragile and too many crises, too much unrest has been created in different parts of the world. I don't think they're interested in the emergence of a new serious crisis, with non-obvious consequences for them," the envoy said.
For his part, US Secretary of State John Kerry told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of his "deep concern" Tuesday over Moscow's failure to de-escalate tensions in Ukraine, a senior State Department official said.

Kerry also warned that a lack of Russian progress on a deal struck in Geneva last week would lead to more sanctions, the official added.
The latest flurry of US diplomacy came as Ukraine re-launched military operations against pro-Kremlin separatists, while Russia already has tens of thousands of its troops massed on Ukraine's eastern border.
Those moves underscored the severity of the crisis that has brought East-West relations to their most perilous point since the end of the Cold War.

In a phone call to Lavrov, Kerry "expressed deep concern over the lack of positive Russian steps to de-escalate, cited mounting evidence that separatists continue to increase the number of buildings under occupation and take journalists and other civilians captive."
The senior official added: "He urged Russia to tone down escalatory rhetoric, engage diplomatically in the east with the OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] and Ukrainian government, and issue public statements calling for those occupying buildings to disarm and stand down in exchange for amnesty."

The official added that Kerry "also reiterated that the absence of measurable progress on implementing the Geneva agreement will result in increased sanctions on Russia."
The top US diplomat also spoke with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and praised the "important steps" the interim government in Kiev has taken to quell tensions.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team