Brussels, 10/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - The meeting on the Ukrainian crisis between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign affairs ministers, Sergei Lavrov and Andrii Dechtchitsa respectively, US Secretary of State John Kerry and High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton is due to take place in Geneva on 17 April, European sources told a few journalists, including from EUROPE, on 10 April. The previous day, Lavrov and Kerry spoke twice on the telephone. “We don't have high expectations (…) but we do believe it is very important to keep this diplomatic door open”, said US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland. This meeting sis likely to be one of the subjects for discussion at the Foreign Affairs Council of European ministers on 14 April.
Believing that the situation in East Ukraine has a “similar evolution” to that in Crimea, the leader of the ALDE Group at the European Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt, has called on the EU “urgently to give Ukraine the opportunity of deploying an observation mission throughout East Ukraine so as to monitor the separatist activities that are encouraged by Russia”. The OSCE special envoy to Ukraine was concerned on 10 April about “a possible use of force by other actors in the Ukrainian state in the East of the country”. The temporary head of the OSCE observation mission on the ground, Adam Kobieracki, has recommended strengthening this mission with another 100 experts - in other words, practically doubling it. It currently comprises 121 people, including 85 observers. (CG)