Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry had a telephone conversation on Thursday, February 27, and discussed the situation in Ukraine.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry had a telephone conversation on Thursday, February 27, and discussed the situation in Ukraine.
“John Kerry called for cooperation in order to normalize the situation. The Russian side stressed the need to ensure the implementation of existing agreements, particularly the Agreement on the Settlement of Crisis in Ukraine of February 21, signed by the president and the opposition and certified by the ministers of foreign affairs of France, Germany and Poland, and supported by the United States,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Lavrov and Kerry noted the importance of practical measures to facilitate the implementation of the agreement to end the crisis in Ukraine as had been agreed by President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama in their telephone conversation on February 21.
At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the claims that the agreement of February 21 has already played its role “are not serious.”
“None of the listed tasks agreed on February 21 has lost its relevance. On the contrary, they have become even more important for preventing further polarization of society caused by radicals’ activity,” the ministry said.
The minister and the secretary also touched upon such issues as the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons and the plight of Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko who has been sentenced to a long prison term in the United States.
Russian Black Sea Fleet Poses no Threat to Ukraine
The Russian Black Sea Fleet poses no threat to the situation in Ukraine and is busy carrying out a combat training program under Russian-Ukrainian agreements, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said on Thursday, February 27.
“All units and formations are engaged in everyday routine activities, including combat training. Such actions pose no threat, and there are no legal restrictions for that,” he said.
Antonov noted Kiev’s statement that all military should stay within the boundaries determined by current legislation and that any movement would be regarded as Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
“The Russian Black Sea Fleet is based in Ukraine in strict compliance with the existing Russian-Ukrainian agreements. Places of deployment, numerical strength and the amount of weapons in Russian military units strictly comply with the terms of the agreement between Russia and Ukraine of May 28, 1997, which determined the parameters of the division of the Black Sea Fleet, and are way below the permitted levels,” Antonov said.
He said the Black Sea Fleet was operating as usual and its personnel were engaged in combat training.
