Kerry, Lavrov seek deal on Ukraine crisis

US Secretary of State John Kerry met his Russian counterpart today hoping to ease global tensions over the Kremlin's annexation of Crimea and buildup of troops near Ukraine.
The latest bid to resolve the worst East-West standoff in the post-Cold War era comes after Russian leader Vladimir Putin called US President Barack Obama on Friday to discuss a diplomatic resolution.
The two men met in the lavish residence of the Russian ambassador to France seeking to hammer out a plan to end the crisis sparked when Moscow sent troops into Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula after the pro-Kremlin regime in Kiev fell in February.

Despite a massive troop build-up on Ukraine's borders, Lavrov has insisted Moscow had "absolutely no intention and no interests in crossing the Ukrainian border".
But he called on Western powers today to back a proposal for Ukraine's Russian-speaking regions to have greater powers in a "federal" and neutral Ukraine.
"If our Western partners are ready, then Russia, the United States and the European Union could form a support group on Ukraine," Lavrov told Russian state television.

This would lead to talks between "all Ukrainian political forces without exception, naturally excluding armed radicals," and would end in a new constitution allowing for a "federal structure" with greater regional autonomy, he said.

Moscow's plan would allow parts of Ukraine to declare Russian as a second official language and secure more independence from Kiev - a move analysts view as a bid to weaken the authority of what is likely to be a permanent new pro-Western leadership.
However the Ukrainian foreign ministry called on Moscow to stop preaching to its western neighbour.
"We would like to urge Russia, before it presses its ultimatums on a sovereign and independent nation, to take note of the catastrophic state and complete powerlessness of its own ethnic minorities, including Ukrainians," it said in a statement.