Russian forces ‘gradually withdrawing’ from Ukraine
Picture: Focus Information Agency
Kyiv. Ukraine on Monday reported a partial withdrawal of Russian troops from its border amid growing signs the Kremlin was ready to de-escalate the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War, AFP reports.
The announcement came in the wake of a four-hour meeting in Paris between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that ended with an exchange of political proposals and an agreement to talk again soon.
In Berlin German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office said Russian President Vladimir Putin had personally informed her of the troop pullback in a phone call on Monday, but provided no other details.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called the troop movements “a small sign that the situation is becoming less tense”.
Both Western powers and the new pro-European interim leaders in Kyiv have been increasingly worried that the Kremlin intends to seize heavily Russified southeastern parts of Ukraine after annexing its Crimea peninsula in response to the fall in February of the Moscow-backed president in Kyiv.
The United States said it would welcome any Russian move to pull its forces back, but did not confirm reports that it had begun to do so.
“If reports that Russia is removing some troops from the border region are accurate, it would be a welcome preliminary step,” US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
“We would urge Russia to accelerate this process.”
Any apparent easing of Russia’s position was offset by an unannounced visit to Crimea by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev – the most senior Moscow official to visit the Black Sea peninsula since its March 16 vote to come under Kremlin rule.
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