Obama vows to support Ukraine

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he tentatiYe feeler came as ama dispatched ecretary of tate -ohn .erry to ondon to meet with his ussian counter part on riday two days efore a ussian supported referendum in rimea on wheth er to secede from Ukraine. ama said that the world would completely reMect what he called a slapdash election ut added that he still hoped for a peaceful settlement.

,n a show of solidarity for the esieged Ukraine ama hosted a hite ouse Yisit y rseniy atsenyuk the country s pro estern acting prime minister and Yowed to stand with Ukraine. ut he also hinted at a formulation that could e the asis for the coming talks etween .erry and ergei aYroY the ussian foreign minister rec ogni ing Moscow s interest in helping the ussian speaking population in rimea while affirming that it is part of Ukraine.

ama said atsenyuk had told him that a new Ukrainian goYernment formed after elections scheduled for May 25 could find ways to address rimea s concerns. here is a constitutional process in place and a set of elections that they can moYe forward on that in fact could lead to different arrangements oYer time with the rimean region ama said. ut that is not something that can e done with the arrel of a gun pointed at you.

t a separate appearance later in the day atsenyuk e pressed willingness to consider concessions to rimea.

e the Ukrainian goYernment are ready to start a nationwide dialogue on how to in crease the rights of autonomous epu lic of rimea starting with ta es and ending with other aspects like language issues he told an audience at the tlantic ouncil.