Kerry: US proposes Russia start talks with new Ukrainian authorities

The United States has proposed that Russia start direct talks with the new Ukrainian authorities.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who was in the Ukrainian capital Kiev on a visit, said Tuesday Russia should sit down to the negotiating table with the new leaders of Ukraine, whose legitimate president, Viktor Yanukovich, was ousted in a violent uprising last month.

Yanukovich fled Ukraine shortly after anti-government protests the country had seen since November took a violent turn on February 18. The Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, took over and appointed an interim head of state and approved a new government, which Russia does not recognize. Yanukovich told journalists in south Russia last week he remained Ukraine’s legitimate leader.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a news conference in his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo on Tuesday that focused on Ukraine. He called the recent developments in the country “an anti-constitutional coup” and “an armed seizure of power.”