Paris (BBN)-Diplomatic efforts to ease tensions in Ukraine are gathering pace as US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov prepare to hold crucial talks in Paris.
The US wants independent observers in the flashpoint region of Crimea and direct talks between Kiev and Moscow.
Russia is likely to call for greater representation for Ukraine’s Russian-speaking areas in the Kiev government.
Meanwhile, the EU has offered 11bn euro ($15bn; £9bn) in aid to Ukraine.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the package of loans and grants over the next couple of years is “designed to assist a committed, inclusive and reforms-oriented government” in Kiev.
Ukraine’s finance ministry has predicted it needs $35bn to rescue its economy.
Nato and Russia are also due to hold parallel talks in Brussels.
The Paris gathering is being seen above all as a chance to test the waters for a dialogue about Ukraine, says the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall.
But UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said the Russians had already failed to appear at one meeting with the Ukrainians in Paris so he was “not optimistic” of making progress later.
“If we cannot make progress on that course there will be costs and consequences,” he added, in reference to a threat of sanctions by the US and EU.
“It will be a test this afternoon of whether Russia is prepared to sit down with Ukraine.”
The first of two sophisticated naval landing ships being built in France for the Russian navy is to set sail on Wednesday afternoon for its initial sea trials.
The vessel – the Vladivostok – is based upon the Mistral class already in service with the French navy.
The deal was signed in June 2011.
The vessel can operate smaller landing craft and helicopters and would significantly enhance Russia’s amphibious capabilities.
The deal to sell such a sophisticated piece of equipment to Moscow has always been controversial; even more so today given the crisis in Ukraine with the French government insisting that if there is no de-escalation of tensions, then rapid EU sanctions could follow.
The timing is perhaps a little delicate for Paris, with high-level talks on the crisis underway in the French capital.
But at least this is not the Vladivostok’s sister vessel that is putting to sea – that is to be named Sevastopol.
But he did stress that Russia would “not allow bloodshed”, adding: “We will not allow attempts against the lives and wellbeing of those who live in Ukraine and Russian citizens who live in Ukraine.”
Lavrov, speaking in Madrid after talks with Spain’s foreign minister, also said it was up to the people of Ukraine and Crimea to decide if they wanted international monitors.
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) later confirmed that it has sent 35 unarmed military monitors – from 18 European countries – to Ukraine in response to a request from Kiev. It was not clear if they would be deployed to Crimea.
Lavrov also insisted Moscow had no power to remove what it calls “self-defence forces” currently guarding key sites in Crimea, explaining that they were not Russian troops.
Personnel from the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet – which is based at the Crimean port city of Sevastopol – were in their normal positions, he added, while admitting Moscow had taken “additional special steps to raise awareness and tighten security” at its base.
While visiting Kiev on Tuesday, Kerry condemned what he called Russia’s “act of aggression” and praised the “restraint” of Ukraine’s interim government.
He has said he wants to see the crisis managed through international institutions such as the OSCE.
Moscow has been calling for a return to an agreement reached on 21 February with the then President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition.
This agreement included constitutional reform that would fully take into account the interests of all regions of Ukraine – giving the Russian-speaking areas in the east more influence and greater legal protection.
This, says the BBC’s Richard Galpin in Moscow, would give Russia more leverage over the future direction of Ukraine.
Moscow has strongly condemned the recent change of government in Ukraine, which came after months of street protests, more than 90 deaths and the flight of President Yanukovych, a Russian ally.
Since his fall, Moscow has retained de facto control of Ukraine’s southern autonomous region of Crimea.
Pro-Russian troops in unmarked uniforms began taking control of strategic points on Saturday.
Troops are surrounding Ukrainian military bases and other installations, while two Ukrainian warships are reported to be blocked by a Russian ship in Sevastopol’s harbour.
BBN-ANS/05Mar14/8:30 pm (BST)
