John Kerry asks Russia to disengage and negotiate in Ukraine
- 10 years ago
US Secretary of State John Kerry, on a visit to Kyiv, has met the leaders of the new Ukrainian government, and laid flowers in Independence Square.
He then delivered an almost point-by-point demolition of all of Russia’s justifications for, in his words, “invasion” of Ukrainian territory, at a press conference in the US Embassy.
He said: “This is the 21st century and we should not see nations step backwards to behave in a 19th or 20th century fashion.”
His busy schedule had obviously not allowed him to catch any of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first public statements on the crisis, delivered from a Moscow press conference earlier on Tuesday.
When told by a journalist Putin had claimed no Russian troops had been sent to Ukraine, he smiled, and asked “Did he really say that?”
He then delivered an almost point-by-point demolition of all of Russia’s justifications for, in his words, “invasion” of Ukrainian territory, at a press conference in the US Embassy.
He said: “This is the 21st century and we should not see nations step backwards to behave in a 19th or 20th century fashion.”
His busy schedule had obviously not allowed him to catch any of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first public statements on the crisis, delivered from a Moscow press conference earlier on Tuesday.
When told by a journalist Putin had claimed no Russian troops had been sent to Ukraine, he smiled, and asked “Did he really say that?”