But on Monday, in a televised briefing with President Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said proposals made by Mr Kerry for a negotiated solution to the crisis are “not suitable”.
The American position was once again expressed:
“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,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
US officials don’t accept the referendum on Crimea’s future, scheduled on Sunday, considering the vote as being illegal. On the other part Moscow has condemned Ukraine’s new government as unacceptable. Washington says that there has been no official response yet to a set of questions Mr Kerry gave Mr Lavrov at the weekend. The principal imposed condition for Moscow was to meet and discuss with the actual Ukraine’s government. The government in Kiev claims Russia invaded Ukraine. Moscow has officially denied that its troops are taking part in the blockades. On Monday, NATO announced that it is to deploy reconnaissance planes in Poland and Romania to monitor the Ukrainian crisis.
