皇冠体育app

Speaking to media today (Friday 14 March) Foreign Secretary William Hague said:

皇冠体育appse talks in London this morning are a vital moment in what is clearly the most serious crisis in Europe in the 21st century so far, and we have welcomed Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Lavrov to London this morning. 皇冠体育app Prime Minister and I had breakfast with Secretary Kerry, and I鈥檝e also had a meeting with Foreign Minister Lavrov and we鈥檝e offered them any assistance and support they need through the day.

This is an urgent moment in this crisis. It鈥檚 urgent for two reasons: firstly, because it鈥檚 a tense and dangerous situation between Russia and Ukraine. 皇冠体育appre have been many military deployments, obviously, by Russia, particularly in the Crimea, and that has created a situation of great tension.

It鈥檚 also urgent because the planned referendum for the Crimea takes place this Sunday. And this is a referendum which doesn鈥檛 meet any international norms or standards; it鈥檚 taking place without a campaign, without an electoral roll, without the political leaders of the country being able to visit, in the presence of many thousands of troops from a foreign country. It鈥檚 not a referendum that any of us can recognise as any normal part of democracy, and holding that this Sunday has, in effect, created a diplomatic deadline for these talks before other measures need to be taken.

We have encouraged both Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Lavrov in their work; encouraged them to find today a diplomatic breakthrough, a way of de-escalating tensions. I think, from talking to them this morning, they both have a serious commitment to try to do that. But the fact that so far Russia hasn鈥檛 taken any actual action to de-escalate tensions makes this a formidably difficult task today, and I think therefore we have to be realistic about that. In the absence of progress today the European Union, including the United Kingdom, will move to further measures, as we have already agreed, if this referendum goes ahead and no diplomatic way forward is found, and we will meet as EU foreign ministers on Monday in Brussels to discuss the next step. But for these next few hours here in London, every effort will be made to find a diplomatic way forward to de-escalate these tensions that have risen for so long.

Further information

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