Kerry heads to Russia to hold talks about Ukraine
Kremlin says Putin might not be there
Secretary of State John Kerry will be in Russia today to meet with President Vladimir Putin for talks on Ukraine, amid damaged relations between Moscow and Washington, the State Department said Monday.
Kerry will also meet with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi “to discuss a full range of bilateral and regional issues, including Iran, Syria and Ukraine,” the State Department said.
“This trip is part of our ongoing effort to maintain direct lines of communication with senior Russian officials and to ensure U.S. views are clearly conveyed,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement.
The Kremlin said Putin’s attendance had yet to be confirmed, the Associated Press reported. And the Russian Foreign Ministry blamed Washington for the breakdown in relations.
“The Obama administration chose the path of scaling back bi- lateral relations, proclaimed a course of isolating Russia on the international arena and demanded that those states that traditionally follow the lead of Washington support its confrontational steps,” it said in a statement, according to the AP.
Ukraine’s crisis, it said, “was largely provoked by the United States itself.”
Kerry’s short visit to Sochi will be only his second trip to Russia since taking office. He visited Moscow in May 2013 and met with Putin and Lavrov before the Ukraine crisis erupted and Russia annexed Crimea in early 2014.
Russian state-owned media RIA-Novosti and Interfax reported Monday that the Kremlin is hopeful Kerry will bring new ideas for reaching a more concrete settlement in Ukraine.
Fighting in eastern Ukraine has continued between Russianbacked separatists and Ukraine forces despite a cease-fire agreed to in February.
The West accuses Russia of supporting the separatist rebels in Ukraine with arms and manpower. Moscow consistently denies that allegation and says Washington’s attempts to train Ukrainian troops are not helpful.
Ukraine’s military said last week that militants attacked its forces with heavy shelling along the separatist frontier in violation of the cease-fire agreement. Separatists also cut gas supplies to 13,000 residents in the Luhansk region, the military said.
“Every day someone’s being killed or wounded in that region,” said Ian Brzezinski, a former Defense Department NATO policy adviser, now at the Atlantic Council think tank.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday urged Russia to use its influence to persuade separatists in Ukraine to abide by the oft-violated cease-fire.