Russia, US have differences over Ukraine: Moscow

Moscow says Russia and the US have “no single plan” to resolve the crisis in Ukraine.

“We have differing views of the situation. Our discussions involve an exchange of ideas, but one cannot say that we have some sort of single approach,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Saturday.

Ryabkov’s acknowledgment of differences about the situation in Ukraine comes at a time when Russian and American officials are holding intense consultations.

On Friday, US President Barack Obama discussed the situation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

In a phone conversation with Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukrainian extremists of committing acts of intimidation against civilians, according to a statement published by the Kremlin.

The two sides also reportedly discussed a US proposal on resolving the crisis in Ukraine in the hour-long phone call.

The proposal was presented by US Secretary of State John Kerry to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in The Hague earlier this week.

Also on Saturday, US Secretary of State John Kerry phoned Lavrov to coordinate further consultations on Ukraine.

“Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the US Secretary of State John Kerry are meeting tomorrow in Paris,” the information and press department of the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

Tensions between the Western powers and Moscow heightened after Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and formally applied to become part of the Russian Federation following a referendum on March 16, in which nearly 97 percent of voters in Crimea said “yes” to reunion with Russia.

On March 21, President Putin signed into law documents that officially made the Black Sea peninsula part of the Russian territory despite condemnation from the West and the new Ukrainian government.

The move sparked angry reactions from the United States and the European Union, with both imposing punitive measures against a number of Russian officials and authorities in Crimea.