U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has announced additional multi-national talks in the coming days on the crisis in Ukraine, and said Western and Ukrainian diplomats are calling for face-to-face meetings between Kyiv and Moscow to ease the military emergency in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.
Kerry spoke Wednesday in Paris, after he and British Foreign Secretary William Hague met separately with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and with Ukrainian interim Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia. Kerry said "intense [multi-national] discussions" would take place later this week.
Earlier, at a separate meeting, Kerry, his British counterpart William Hague and Deshchytsia called for the immediate deployment of international observers in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov did not attend that meeting.
Kerry said he spoke privately with Lavrov and urged him to engage in talks with the Ukrainian minister. However, Western diplomats were quoted as saying Lavrov left Paris without having met Deshchytsia. Lavrov was quoted as saying further talks will take place "in days to come."
For his part, Kerry said he had not expected such a meeting to occur Wednesday.
Renewing calls for Russia to send troops back to the barracks, Kerry also said he expects to meet with Russia’s Lavrov in Rome on Thursday.
He added that there are 'a number of ideas on the table' to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, but that he will first consult with President Obama.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said earlier the United States and Britain are pursuing "every diplomatic opportunity" to bring Russian and Ukrainian officials into contact with each other.
Hague said there will be "costs and consequences" for Russia if diplomatic progress is not made. He said Russia should understand that its pattern of intervening in countries like Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova will change its relationship with European nations.
Commenting on Western calls for a Russian withdrawal from Crimea, Lavrov said earlier Wednesday that Russia cannot order pro-Russian armed forces in Crimea, which he described as "self-defense" forces, back to bases, because they are not Russian forces. He said Russia's Black Sea fleet personnel are in their normal positions.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also denied that Russian military forces are deployed in Crimea, anywhere outside Russia's Black Sea fleet base.
He dismissed as a "provocation" video footage showing Russian armored military vehicles with Russian license plates on the peninsula and a soldier in the Crimean town of Kerch identifying himself and his fellow serviceman as Russians.
Claims by Moscow that the forces in Crimea are local "self-defense" forces have been challenged, implicitly or directly, both by the West and Ukraine. In a statement Monday, the G-7 condemned Russia's actions in Crimea as "a clear violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine." The U.S. has called them an "incredible act of aggression."
Ukrainian officials say Moscow has sent 16,000 troops into Crimea since last week.
Ukrainian media has circulated images of hardware and weapons used by uniformed men outside the Russian Black Sea fleet base which it says are only issued only to regular Russian service personnel.
The uniforms worn and vehicles driven by what Russia calls local defense forces in Crimea bear no visible insignia.
The Pentagon has announced that it is canceling military exercises with Russia over its actions in Ukraine, while boosting military contacts with NATO partners and other nations in Eastern Europe.
Testifying on the matter before U.S. Congress, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel also made clear where Washington stood with regard to current tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
“This is a time for wise, steady, and firm leadership. And it is a time for all of us to stand with the Ukrainian people in support of their territorial integrity and their sovereignty. And we are doing that,” Hagel told a Senate panel adding that the United States is focused on de-escalating the crisis and supporting the Ukrainian government in the face of Russian intervention.
According to Hagel, the U.S. military is stepping up joint training through an aviation detachment in Poland and boosting participation in a NATO air policing mission over Baltic states.
In a rare show of support for President Barack Obama, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives said on Wednesday they would work with the White House to address the crisis in Ukraine and vote on legislation offering financial aid soon.