U.S. Effort to Broker Russia-Ukraine Diplomacy Fails

By MICHAEL R. GORDON and STEVEN ERLANGERMARCH 5, 2014

The New York Times

PARIS — An effort by the United States to broker the first face-to-face diplomatic meeting between Russia and Ukraine over the Crimea crisis failed on Wednesday, but Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart announced more discussions in the days ahead.

Their remarks left open the possibility of progress toward a solution to de-escalate one of the most serious East-West confrontations since the Cold War.

But while Mr. Kerry asserted Wednesday night that his deliberations here had yielded creative ideas and that he planned to resume talks with the Russian foreign minister in Rome on Thursday, there were also signs of how acute the crisis remained.

In Crimea, unidentified armed men threatened the United Nations special envoy, Robert Serry, forcing him to leave the region by plane. And the Pentagon took its first military steps since the crisis erupted to reassure Eastern European NATO members by announcing that six American F-15 fighters and one KC-135 refueling plane would be sent to reinforce the four American F-15s that currently police the airspace of Baltic nations. A program to carry out joint training with Poland’s air force will also be expanded, the Pentagon said.

The moves follow Poland’s request that NATO hold emergency discussions on the crisis under Article 4 of the alliance’s treaty, which provides for consultations if a member feels threatened.

In Washington, President Obama consulted further with allies, speaking by telephone to Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, whose government has resisted any trade sanctions against Russia. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. called with reassurances to President Andris Berzins of Latvia, one of the Baltic states unnerved by Moscow’s military occupation of the Crimean Peninsula.

In a blunt move, the State Department issued a list of 10 claims by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia that it called false, rebutting each. The statement rejected Mr. Putin’s assertions that Ukraine’s new government was illegitimate, ethnic Russians in Crimea were under threat and Russian forces were acting to protect Russian military assets.

In Paris, Mr. Kerry’s emphasis was on diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis and bring Russian diplomats together with representatives of the new Ukrainian government.

On Wednesday morning, Mr. Kerry and his British and Ukrainian counterparts met on the 1994 Budapest memorandum, an agreement signed by Russia, the United States and Britain obliging them to refrain from the “threat and use of force” or “economic coercion” against Ukraine, which also signed the agreement and agreed to give up the nuclear weapons inherited after the Soviet Union’s breakup.

Mr. Kerry said he regretted that Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, had not attended. William Hague, the British foreign secretary, said the group would make “every diplomatic effort today to bring Russia and Ukraine into direct contact at ministerial level.”

Andrii Deshchytsia, Ukraine’s acting foreign minister, who flew to Paris on Tuesday night on Mr. Kerry’s plane, said at the session that he was prepared to have “consultations with Russia, bilaterally and multilaterally.”

After Mr. Kerry met with Mr. Lavrov later that day at the Russian ambassador’s residence, the two diplomats went to the French Foreign Ministry for further discussions on the crisis with European envoys. Mr. Deshchytsia, who Ukrainian officials said had left for the airport only to be called back, arrived at the ministry soon afterward.

But a direct meeting between Mr. Lavrov and Mr. Deshchytsia, who was in the same building but not the same room, did not happen.

The failure reflected the tensions over Russia’s refusal to recognize the interim government in Kiev that replaced President Viktor F. Yanukovych, who fled last month but is regarded by Russia as Ukraine’s rightful leader.

But a direct meeting between Mr. Lavrov and Mr. Deshchytsia, who was in the same building but not the same room, did not happen.

The failure reflected the tensions over Russia’s refusal to recognize the interim government in Kiev that replaced President Viktor F. Yanukovych, who fled last month but is regarded by Russia as Ukraine’s rightful leader.

Asked if he had met his Ukrainian counterpart, Mr. Lavrov said: “Who is it? I didn’t see anyone.” Mr. Deshchytsia, asked by reporters why he and Mr. Lavrov had not met, said, “Ask Lavrov.”

Later at a news conference held at the American ambassador’s residence, Mr. Kerry sought to play down the absence of a meeting. “I had no expectation, zero expectation, that today that kind of a meeting would take place,” said Mr. Kerry, who affirmed that arranging such a meeting was still a goal.

The frenetic diplomacy came as the European Union added a significant financial underpinning to the struggling Ukrainian government in the middle of the crisis with Russia over Ukraine’s future, offering aid worth as much as $15 billion over the next two years.

The offer came atop $1 billion in American loan guarantees to ease Ukraine’s economic transition, announced by Mr. Kerry on Tuesday in Kiev, where he was visiting to reassure the interim Ukrainian government and challenge Russia.

The offers of loans are crucial because Ukraine is in dire economic shape, with a promised Russian loan of $15 billion in abeyance since the ouster of Mr. Yanukovych, and with Russia’s decision to cancel a large discount on gas supplies to Ukraine starting April 1.

Ukrainian officials have said they need $35 billion in new loans and credits over the next two years to avoid default.

A team from the International Monetary Fund was in Kiev to study the books and consider a loan. The fund is expected to demand difficult changes, including the reduction of lavish subsidies on gas prices, so the American and European money is intended in part to help cushion the blow to Ukrainian voters before new elections in May.

The American and European offers are also intended to answer political criticism in Washington and some European countries that the West is not doing enough to support Ukraine in the face of Russian threats.

European Union leaders will meet on Thursday in Brussels to consider sanctions against Russia. The loan announcement on Wednesday came from José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, the union’s executive arm. He said the offer of 11 billion euros, or $15 billion, “over the next couple of years” included €1.6 billion, or about $2.2 billion, in loans and €1.4 billion in grants, as well as €3 billion in new credit from the European Investment Bank through 2016.

He also promised efforts with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, where the European Union is a majority shareholder, to free up €5 billion, and other steps to grant €3.5 billion in loans.

But Mr. Barroso was vague on the details, indicating a rapid effort to come up with an offer that could come close to matching the original Russian one. He said he would discuss details on Thursday with Ukraine’s interim prime minister, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, who will attend the emergency summit meeting of leaders.

The European Union also announced that it was freezing the financial assets in Europe of 18 people held responsible of misusing state funds in Ukraine. Their identities were withheld pending the official publication in the union’s legal journal on Thursday.

In Kiev, Mr. Yatsenyuk said Russia’s deployment of forces was having an “extremely negative” impact on the country’s shaky economy.

But Russia signaled no intention to release its grip on Crimea, headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Russian troops there, in uniforms without insignia, continued to surround major Ukrainian military facilities. Most of the Ukrainians have resisted calls to surrender weapons and leave their bases, where they are effectively imprisoned.

In Paris, Mr. Kerry sought to accent the positive. “I personally feel as if I have something concrete to take back and talk to President Obama about so that I can get his input and thinking, advice, on what he’s prepared to do,” he said. “And I believe that Foreign Minister Lavrov is in exactly the same position with respect to President Putin.”

Michael R. Gordon reported from Paris, and Steven Erlanger from Kiev, Ukraine. Reporting was contributed by Dan Bilefsky from Paris; Andrew Roth from Donetsk, Ukraine; Alison Smale and Patrick Reevell from Armyansk, Ukraine; Peter Baker from Washington; and Rick Gladstone from New York.