Russia Opens Talks on #Ukraine Crisis

At Telegraph UK, "Russia opens talks as UN envoy is chased from Crimea":

Robert Serry was accosted by a group of armed men outside the naval headquarters in Simferopol who shouted 'Crimea is Russian! Putin! Putin!'

Russia and the United States held their first direct talks since the start of the Ukraine crisis on Wednesday night, raising hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough in the worst breach in relations between East and West since the end of the Cold War.

Though progress was limited, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, met his counterparts from the US, France, Germany and Britain in Paris and said further discussions would take place “in days to come”, which was echoed by John Kerry, the US Secretary of State.

“We are all concerned at what it is happening there,” Mr Lavrov said as he left the French foreign ministry. Mr Kerry said the talks merely “initiated a process”.

Tensions remained high in Crimea, where gunmen seized part of a Ukrainian missile facility in Cape Fiolent near Sevastopol, according to Ukrainian officials.

A senior United Nations envoy was forced to cut short his mission and decided to leave the country after being “threatened” by a gang of armed men shouting “Crimea is Russian! Putin! Putin!” Robert Serry was accosted by gunmen outside the naval headquarters in Simferopol. He was blocked from returning to his car and took refuge in a café that was surrounded by a mob. He was allowed to his hotel on condition that he left Crimea. He soon left for the airport.

The volatile situation in eastern Ukraine showed little sign of easing as a dozen people were hurt when pro-Russian protesters took back the regional government building in Donetsk. Earlier in the day pro-Western Ukrainians had reinstalled the national flag on the roof.

The West continued its strategy of combining support for the new government in Kiev with pressure on Russia, whose troops moved into Crimea two weeks ago.

More at Toronto's Globe and Mail, "Russia rebuffs West on Crimea amid Paris talks":

Russia rebuffed Western demands to withdraw forces in Ukraine’s Crimea region to their bases on Wednesday amid a day of high-stakes diplomacy in Paris aimed at easing tensions over Ukraine and averting the risk of war.

The European Union offered Ukraine’s new pro-Western government 11 billion euros ($15 billion) in financial aid in the next couple of years provided Kiev reaches a deal with the International Monetary Fund. Germany, the EU’s biggest economy, also promised bilateral financial help.

Ukraine’s new finance minister, Oleksander Shlapak, caused a fall in the Ukrainian bond and currency markets by saying his economically shattered country may start talks with creditors on restructuring its foreign currency debt.

A UN special envoy had to abandon a mission to Crimea after being stopped by armed men and besieged inside a cafe by a hostile crowd shouting “Russia! Russia!” Dutch diplomat Robert Serry agreed to leave Crimea to end the stand-off.

And the U.S. Defense Department, in an apparent attempt to signal resolve to Moscow, announced military measures to support eastern European NATO allies adjoining Russia and Ukraine.

Russia and the West are locked in the most serious battle since the end of the Cold War for influence in Ukraine, a former Soviet republic with historic ties to Moscow that is a major commodities exporter and strategic link between East and West.

Ukraine pulled out of a trade deal with the EU under Russian pressure last year, sparking months of protests in Kiev and the Feb. 22 ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych, a Russian ally.

Ukraine says Russia has occupied Crimea, where its Black Sea fleet is based, provoking an international outcry and sharp falls in financial markets on Monday, though they have since stabilised.

The foreign ministers of Russia, the United States, Britain, and Germany met their French counterpart and French President Francois Hollande in Paris to try to start a diplomatic process to defuse the crisis.

But diplomats said it was not clear whether Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would take the crucial step of attending talks with Ukraine’s new foreign minister, a member of a government Moscow has described as illegitimate.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry left the meeting at Hollande’s office without making any statement.

I'll have more...