Biden pledges to stand by new Ukrainian leaders

Russia urges Washington to influence Kiev in honoring deal

US Vice-President Joe Biden said the United States stood beside Ukraine's new pro-Western leaders on Tuesday in the face of "humiliating threats" as Washington and Moscow traded blame over the crisis in the ex-Soviet country.

"You face very daunting problems, and some might say, humiliating threats," Biden told a group of lawmakers in a meeting at Ukraine's parliament.

The US promised a new $50 million aid package for Ukraine political and economic reforms. Washington would "stand with" Ukraine ahead of a presidential poll scheduled for May 25 that "may be the most important election in Ukrainian history", Biden said.

His symbolic two-day visit to Kiev came as US officials said that the onus was firmly on Moscow to fulfill an accord struck last week aimed at reducing tensions in the worst East-West confrontation since the Cold War.

Under the deal signed by Ukraine, Russia, the US and the European Union in Geneva, all militias in the country were supposed to disarm and give up control of seized state property.

Washington and Kiev have put the onus on pro-Kremlin militants holding buildings in the east, while Moscow said the responsibility fell to pro-Western nationalists camping out in Kiev.

The split over Ukraine was on display in a crunch phone call between US and Russian diplomatic chiefs, with each side putting a radically different spin on the conversation aimed at reviving the Geneva accord.

US Secretary of State John Kerry called on Moscow to put pressure on the pro-Russian separatists, which Washington sees as backed by the Kremlin.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged Washington to influence the Ukrainian government, which Moscow accuses of "grossly breaching" the Geneva deal.

Kerry told Lavrov that "concrete steps" to defuse the crisis should include "publicly calling on separatists to vacate illegal buildings and checkpoints, accept amnesty and address their grievances politically", said US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

US ambassador to Kiev Geoffrey Pyatt told journalists on Monday that "the ball is really in Moscow's court" over making the agreement work and said Washington would take "days not weeks" to assess the implementation of the accord.

In Moscow, the foreign ministry said Lavrov had asked Kerry to "pressure Kiev to stop hotheads from provoking a bloody conflict and to encourage the Ukrainian authorities to strictly fulfill their obligations".

Lavrov also accused Ukraine's government of an "inability and unwillingness" to rein in Pravy Sektor ("Right Sector"), an ultra-nationalist group the separatists blamed for a deadly attack on Sunday on one of their checkpoints near the flashpoint town of Sloviansk.

Funerals of at least two pro-Moscow rebels killed in the gunbattle were set to take place in the town on Tuesday in an emotive ceremony that could stoke additional anger in the east.

Threat of sanctions

US President Barack Obama has threatened more sanctions on Moscow if the Geneva accord is not implemented soon, beyond those already imposed by the US and the EU.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said on Monday that Washington was ready to make good on its threat, warning that "if progress is not made in coming days we will impose further costs".

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that Russia was ready to face a new round of sanctions.

"I am sure we will be able to minimize their consequences," Medvedev said in a televised speech to the parliament.

AFP-AP

(China Daily 04/23/2014 page12)