Diplomatic efforts to ease tensions in Ukraine are gathering pace as US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov prepare to hold crucial talks in Paris.
The US wants independent observers in the flashpoint region of Crimea and direct talks between Kiev and Moscow.
Russia is likely to call for greater representation for Ukraine’s Russian-speaking areas in the Kiev government.
Ukraine’s interim foreign minister said it was seeking peace with Russia.“We want to keep good dialogue, good relations with the Russian people,” Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya told reporters after meeting his French counterpart, Laurent Fabius.
Mr Lavrov, speaking in Madrid after talks with Spain’s foreign minister, said Russia would not “allow bloodshed” in Ukraine, and would defend any attacks on pro-Russian citizens.
He also said it was up to the people of Ukraine and Crimea to decide if they wanted international monitors to be deployed.
He insisted Moscow had no power to remove what it calls “self-defence forces” currently guarding key sites in Crimea, explaining that they were not Russian troops.
Personnel from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet – which is based at the Crimean port city of Sevastopol – were in their normal positions, he added, while admitting Moscow had taken “additional special steps to raise awareness and tighten security” at its naval base.
Mr Lavrov also underlined Moscow’s differences with Western nations, accusing them of setting a bad example by supporting protesters – some of whom now make up the government – in their “armed coup d’etat”.
‘Bomb scare’: Mr Lavrov is expected to meet Mr Kerry and EU leaders on the sidelines of a long-planned conference on Lebanon in Paris.
Nato and Russia are also due to hold parallel talks in Brussels
The Paris gathering is now being seen above all as a chance to test the waters for a dialogue about Ukraine, says the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall.
While visiting Kiev on Tuesday, Mr Kerry condemned what he called Russia’s “act of aggression” and praised the “restraint” of Ukraine’s interim government.
He has said he wanted to see the crisis managed through international institutions such as the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which has already said it would provide monitors in Crimea if required.
Moscow has been calling for a return to an agreement reached on 21 February with the then President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition.
This agreement included constitutional reform that would fully take into into account the interests of all regions of Ukraine – giving the Russian-speaking areas in the east more influence and greater legal protection.
This, says the BBC’s Richard Galpin in Moscow, would give Russia more leverage over the future direction of Ukraine.
Moscow has strongly condemned the recent change of government in Ukraine, which came after months of street protests, more than 90 deaths and the flight of President Yanukovych, a Russian ally.
Since his fall, Moscow has retained de facto control of Ukraine’s southern autonomous region of Crimea.
Pro-Russian troops in unmarked uniforms began taking control of strategic points on Saturday.
Troops are surrounding Ukrainian military bases and other installations, while two Ukrainian warships are reported to be blocked by a Russian ship in Sevastopol’s harbour.
The tense stand-off continued overnight, with reports that Russian forces have seized part of a Ukrainian missile defence unit.
And in the east Ukrainian city of Donetsk, the regional government building has been evacuated and the area cordoned off amid unconfirmed reports of a bomb scare. – BBC News
