Western Sanctions Readied For Crimea Vote
Secretary of State John Kerry, who delayed a press conference by close to three hours, came out and faced reporters in London Friday and said he had a “constructive” and “frank” conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The conversation, said Kerry, lasted a “good six hours.”
But then Kerry stated that Russia was unwilling to make a decision about Crimea until the referendum. “However, after much discussion the foreign minister made it clear that President Putin was not prepared to make any decision regarding Ukraine until after the referendum Sunday,” he said.
Kerry reiterated that the United States will not recognize the results of the referendum, which it believes to be invalid under the Ukrainian constitution and international law.
Kerry said that Russia had “legitimate interests” in Ukraine, and the U.S. was willing to “respect” them, but that Russia would have to respect the international system. He also said that he discussed Russian troop levels in Southern and Eastern Russia with Lavrov and communicated that they caused “increased anxiety” in Ukraine.
Kerry added that Lavrov would report back to Putin on Kerry’s proposals to deescalate the situation. The Secretary also seemed to offer Putin a way out, saying that he could “respect” the result of the referendum by granting Crimea increased autonomy and not annexing it.
Kerry’s remarks indicated that Putin, not Lavrov, ultimately makes the decisions about Crimea, and those decisions won’t be made until the results are in Sunday. The Russian Foreign Ministry released an earlier photo of Kerry and Lavrov kicking around a soccer ball — the ball is going to be kicked for a bit longer, it seems.
-Luke Johnson