Biden to visit Europe amid Ukraine crisis

(Vatican Radio) The White House says United States Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Poland and Lithuania to discuss the crisis in Ukraine and to show support for allies of the NATO military alliance.


Late Friday's announcement came after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov failed to agree on how to end tensions in Ukraine, where Russian forces control the Crimean Peninsula.


The U.S. and Russia are involved in separate massive military war games near the borders of Ukraine, in what is seen as a show of force in a geopolitical battle over the strategic former Soviet nation.


It comes amid an information war, with Russian officials claiming a U.S. drone was intercepted, prompting the Pentagon to deny it had deployed drones or lost any aircraft over Crimea.


In a glimmer of hope, however, Lavrov denied Russia had plans to invade Ukraine.

“Russia has and can have no plans to invade southeastern regions of Ukraine,” he said, adding: “We think the rights of Russians, Hungarians, Bulgarians and Ukrainians should definitely be ensured and should be defended.”

He also made clear that Moscow would recognize the outcome of Sunday's controversial referendum in Crimea on whether to join Russia.


Lavrov said Crimea for Russia means "immeasurably more than the Comoros for France or the Falklands for Britain". The peninsula was part of Russia until 1954.


REFERENDUM ‘ILLEGITIMATE’
However, Kerry maintained that Sunday’s planned referendum in Crimea is illegitimate and warned Russia would face “consequences” if it “doesn’t find a way to change course”.

“We hope President Putin will recognise that none of what we’re saying is meant as a threat, it’s not personal,” he said. “It’s meant as a matter of respect for the international, multi-lateral structure that we have lived by since World War II, and for the standards of behaviour about annexation, about secession, about independence and how countries come about it.”

The U.S. and the European Union are planning far-reaching sanctions against Russia, including imposing travel bans on key Russian officials and companies.


Biden was expected to discuss these issue with leaders in Lithuania and Poland, which border Ukraine, and to make clear that the U.S. will “support Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity”.


Biden will be in the region from Monday through Wednesday, when Crimea is expected to declare itself part of Russia.


Listen to the report by Stefan Bos: