Kerry and Lavrov to tackle Ukraine in Paris talks

US Secretary of State John Kerry is to meet with his Russian counterpart late Sunday afternoon in Paris in a bid to ease global tensions over the Kremlin’s seizure of Crimea and military activity near Ukraine.

John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov earlier this month in London. REUTERS/Brendan Smialowski/pool

Kerry abruptly changed his course mid-air yesterday on his way home from Saudi Arabia after President Vladimir Putin called President Barack Obama for the first time since sending troops into Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula in response to the fall of a pro-Kremlin regime in Ukraine on 22 February.

The Russian foreign ministry said Washington had initiated the call between Kerry and Lavrov, adding that they discussed Ukraine and plans for further contact.

Today’s meeting is the latest attempt to resolve the worst East-West impasse in the post-Cold War era.

Lavrov said ahead of the meeting that Moscow had "absolutely no intention and no interests in crossing the Ukrainian border".

Ukraine's new Western-backed government also told Moscow on Sunday shortly before the meeting to stop "preaching" to its western neighbour and to focus on its own issues.

"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," the Ukrainian foreign ministry said in statement.

Obama spent the prior week touring Europe to try and assuage Washington’s allies that its threat of economic sanctions and a reinforcement of NATO forces along Russia’s western border would put Putin’s expansionist intentions at rest.

While the US does not recognise Russia's annexation of Crimea, the ongoing diplomatic efforts are primarily aimed at preventing Putin from moving farther into Ukraine.

Russia would like to see Ukraine grant its regions greater autonomy, have a non-aligned status outside NATO and make Russian a second official language, according to a statement from Lavrov on his ministry’s website on Saturday.

The meeting in Paris comes ahead of a gathering of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday, which is expected to be dominated by the turmoil in Ukraine and Russia’s intervention.