International
Rex Features/AP
Secretary of State John Kerry made a last-minute change of plans on Saturday to fly to Paris with the aim of setting up talks with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, after Lavrov told Russian state television there were no plans to invade Ukraine.
Lavrov said on Saturday that Russia had no intention of ordering its armed forces to cross over the Ukrainian border, and insisted that the divisions between Moscow and the West were narrowing.
Recent contacts had shown the outlines of a "possible joint initiative which could be presented to our Ukrainian colleagues," Lavrov told Russian state television.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday called U.S. President Barack Obama to say he was interested in discussing a U.S. proposal on the table to resolve the standoff over Ukraine.
Obama instructed Kerry to meet with Lavrov as soon as possible.
It's unlikely that Putin will accept the U.S. proposal as it stands, but the meeting between Kerry and Lavrov signifies that the two sides are trying to push forward to come to a compromise they can both accept.
Kerry is also due to attend NATO meetings in Brussels on Tuesday and then travel to Algeria and Morocco for his first visit to the northern African nations as secretary of state.
Kerry had been in Riyadh, as well as Rome and The Hague, with Obama this week but is traveling on his own plane. He had made a side trip to Amman, Jordan, on Wednesday to meet with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas while Obama visited Brussels. Kerry has also had several conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since he left Washington last Monday.
On Friday, exiled Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich pushed for a vote to let each of the country's regions determine its own status.
The statement from Yanukovich – a longtime Moscow ally who fled to Russia in February after three months of anti-government protests forced him out – raised the threat of more unrest in Ukraine's Russian-speaking eastern provinces, where many resent the new, West-leaning Ukrainian government.
"As a president who is with you with all my thoughts and soul, I urge every sensible citizen of Ukraine: Don't give in to impostors! Demand a referendum on the status of each region within Ukraine," Yanukovich said in an address to the people of Ukraine.
In the Tatars' historic capital of Bakhchisaray, the assembly representing the 300,000-strong indigenous Muslim minority voted in favor of seeking "ethnic and territorial autonomy" in Crimea. They make up less than 15 percent of Crimea's population of 2 million and have been overwhelmingly opposed to Russia's annexation of the territory.
Crimean Tatars' assembly leader Refat Chubarov told more than 200 delegates: "In the life of every nation there comes a time when it must make decisions that will determine its future."
"I ask you to approve ... the start of political and legal procedures aimed at creating ethnic and territorial autonomy of the Crimean Tatars of their historic territory of Crimea."
The assembly subsequently backed his proposal.
Critical of Russia's annexation of Crimea, the Tatars boycotted the March 16 vote to split from Ukraine and become part of Russia.
Moscow has tried to pressure them to drop their opposition.
However, their proposal to seek autonomy signals they would be ready to negotiate their status with Russia.
The Tatars were deported under Soviet leader Josef Stalin to Central Asia and only began returning from exile about two decades ago.
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