US Secretary of State rejects meeting with Vladimir Putin
John Kerry said that Moscow’s military intervention in Crimea has made any negotiations extremely difficult.
12:50 11 March 2014
US Secretary of state John Kerry has rejected meeting with Vladimir Putin saying that Russia must first engage with America’s proposal on Ukraine’s crisis before any negotiations will take place.
US officials added should the referendum on whether Crimea joins Russia go ahead, there will be little to discuss with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Both the West and Ukraine said that he vote is illegal.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: "The United States needs to see concrete evidence that Russia is prepared to engage on the diplomatic proposals we have made to facilitate direct dialogue between Ukraine and Russia and to use international mechanisms like a contact group to deescalate the conflict.”
"Kerry made clear to Foreign Minister Lavrov that he would welcome further discussions focused on how to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine if and when we see concrete evidence that Russia is prepared to engage on these proposals.”
On Monday, Nato announced that it is to deploy Awacs reconnaissance planes in Poland and Romania to monitor the Ukrainian crisis.