The best they can say about today's meetings in Paris is that all the leaders agree to disagree - both over possible sanctions and over whether Russia is doing anything illegal. Confused yet? US Secretary of State John Kerry will explain it all in his press conference due up soon...
Lavrov said in his comments today that
"Kerry acknowledged that... in conditions of threats and ultimatums, it is very difficult to work on honest agreements that will then help the Ukrainain people to stabilise the situation."
Via Xinhua,
U.S. secretary of state, British foreign secretary and Ukrainian interim foreign minister on Wednesday urged Russia to honor the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.
"The Budapest Memorandum sets out the obligations of signatories in return for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons," John Kerry, William Hague and Andriy Deshchytsia said in a joint statement while meeting in Paris Wednesday.
"The Memorandum also obliges the UK, U.S. and Russia to consult in the event of a situation arising where the memorandum commitments are questioned," the statement said.
The United States had conveyed an invitation to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, but he didn't attend the meeting, according to the statement.