ROME: Top US diplomat John Kerry met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov yesterday, amid anger in Moscow over the prospect of new US sanctions and possible lethal military aid for Ukraine.
The meeting in Rome comes as tensions soar after US lawmakers passed a bill — dubbed the Ukraine Freedom Support Act — calling for additional sanctions against Russia and the delivery of up to $350m worth of US military hardware to Kiev.
“Undoubtedly, we will not be able to leave this without a response,” deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told Interfax news agency ahead of the talks.
The Senate bill must still be approved by the White House, which has so far been reluctant to provide direct military assistance to Ukraine for fear of being drawn into a proxy war with Russia, which is backing separatist forces in Ukraine.
The legislation authorises — but does not legally require — President Barack Obama to provide lethal and non-lethal military aid to Ukraine, including anti-tank weapons, ammunition and troop-operated surveillance drones. State Department officials have insisted there are no plans to move beyond providing non-lethal supplies such as body armour and communications equipment.
US officials have stressed the main thrust of Kerry’s pre-Christmas diplomatic whirl is a looming showdown at the UN on a bid for Palestinian statehood.
But the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria would also figure high on the agenda.
“We have a number of critical issues to talk about,” Kerry said, as he met with Lavrov in the splendour of the US ambassador’s residence in Rome.
Neither men made any mention of Ukraine, with the Russian foreign minister focusing on the Middle East saying he wanted to make “sure we don’t allow this situation to degrade any further”.
“I will be very much interested in discussing what we can do together to avoid this,” Lavrov added. AFP
