Russia pledges to unveil Ukraine crisis solution

Russia vowed yesterday to unveil its own solution to the Ukrainian crisis that would run counter to US efforts and would appear to leave room for Crimea to switch over to Kremlin rule.

The unexpected announcement came as Ukraine’s new pro-European leaders raced to rally Western support in the face of the seizure by Kremlin-backed forces of the strategic Black Sea peninsula and plans to hold a Sunday referendum on switching Crimea’s allegiance from Kiev to Moscow.

Russian president Vladimir Putin’s threat to invade Ukraine after a wave of deadly protests toppled a pro-Kremlin regime last month has set off the most explosive crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War.

US president Barack Obama and his European allies are urging Russia to call its troops in Crimea back to their barracks and launch immediate negotiations with the new Ukrainian leadership, which Putin claims rose to power thanks to an “unconstitutional coup”.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Putin in a televised meeting yesterday that proposals he had received from US Secretary of State John Kerry on resolving the stand-off “do not suit us very much” and were “framed as if there exists a conflict between Russia and Ukraine”.

He said Russia had prepared a series of counter-proposals that would “take into account the interests of all Ukrainians”.

Lavrov said Washington was basing its solution on a recognition of Kiev’s new leaders while Russia still considered the ousted Viktor Yanukovych as the legitimate president of Ukraine.

But Lavrov gave no indication about when or where Russia’s proposals would be made public.