Talk with Kiev leadership to end Ukraine crisis: G7 to Russia

Posted on June 6, 2014 by sagarmedia

Leaders of the G-7 industrial nations have urged Russia to begin talks with the new leadership in Kiev to end the crisis in eastern Ukraine. The United States President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron said Moscow must recognise Petro Poroshenko, who takes office as President on Saturday. Obama also said that if Russia’s provocation continues, the G-7 nations are ready to impose additional costs. The G-7 leaders meeting in Brussels said they were fully behind Mr Poroshenko.  Later in Paris yesterday, Mr Cameron met Russian President Vladimir Putin, giving him a clear and firm set of messages. This was Mr Putin’s first face to face meeting with a Western leader since the Ukraine crisis began. Mr Cameron said the status quo, the situation today, is not acceptable and it needs to change. Putin, who has been cold-shouldered by the United States and its allies since the March seizure of the peninsula, met Cameron ahead of talks later with French President Francois Hollande.  Putin will also meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel today before the D-Day anniversary ceremony in Normandy. No formal meeting is scheduled with Barack Obama but the US president signalled in Brussels that he was likely to have some kind of exchange with his Russian counterpart.