Senior US diplomat meets with Ukrainian prime minister in Kyiv
By
our dpa-correspondent and Europe Online
Berlin (dpa) – The US assistant secretary of state for Eurasian
affairs, Victoria Nuland, met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy
Yatsenyuk in Kyiv to discuss issues that included “overcoming Russian
aggression,” the Ukrainian government said.
The officials on Thursday discussed US aid to help Ukraine implement
a ceasefire with pro-Russian separatist rebels in the east as well as
implement economic reforms in preparation for an EU free-trade
agreement to come into effect in January, Ukraine‘s cabinet said late
Thursday in a statement.
Nuland is scheduled to meet with several Ukrainian officials during
her visit, which lasts until Saturday, the US State Department said.
Her trip follows a landmark meeting this week between Secretary of
State John Kerry and President Vladimir Putin in Russia, during which
they discussed the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Relations between the United States and Russia plummeted last year to
a low unprecedented since the Cold War after protests in Kyiv led to
the ouster of Ukraine‘s pro-Russian president and Russia then annexed
Ukraine‘s Crimea region and supported the separatist uprising.
More than 6,000 people have been killed in the conflict since it
turned violent in April last year, according to the United Nations.
Nuland had been portrayed in Russian media as exemplifying purported
US involvement in deposing Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine‘s pro-Russian
president, after she met with opposition leaders during the protest
movement that erupted in late 2013 after Yanukovych decided not to
sign an association agreement with the European Union and instead
focus on building ties with Russia.
This week, ahead of Kerry‘s meeting in the southern Russian city of
Sochi, Russia‘s Foreign Ministry said it hoped the visit would “help
normalize bilateral relations, upon which much of the world‘s
stability depends.”
But the ministry also blamed the US for damaging ties, saying the US
“unreasonably attributed to Russia responsibility for the Ukraine
crisis, which in many ways was provoked by the US themselves.”
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