US-Russia Talks End in Failure

Kerry Continues Threats Throughout

Secretary of State John Kerry continued the US policy of throwing wild threats about willy-nilly, but somehow today’s London talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov didn’t end with any deal.

Kerry complained Russia didn’t appear interested in making any deals on the Crimea until after the Sunday referendum, and said he offered “a number of ideas” to Russia on alternatives.

It was completely unclear what those alternatives actually were, since the administration’s only public suggestion was a full, unilateral Russian surrender on the issue, and a forcible reintegration of the Crimea into the Ukraine.

Kerry said he warned of “backdoor annexation” of the Crimea by Russia, though with the referendum just 48 hours away and voters expected to approve the annexation by a considerable margin it is unclear what is “backdoor” about it at all.

Lavrov agreed that there was “no common vision” in the talks, adding that Crimea means “immeasurably more” to Russia than the Falkland Islands does to Britain.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.