UKRAINE: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calls on Moscow and Kiev to begin a dialogue after meeting with acting Ukrainian President Oleksander Turchinov

Record ID: 565138

  • Title: UKRAINE: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calls on Moscow and Kiev to begin a dialogue after meeting with acting Ukrainian President Oleksander Turchinov
  • Date: 21st March 2014
  • Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (MARCH 21) (REUTERS) U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL BAN KI-MOON ENTERING ROOM AND SHAKING HANDS WITH ACTING UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT OLEKSANDER TURCHINOV MEDIA FILMING BAN KI-MOON AND TURCHINOV BAN KI-MOON SITTING DOWN AT TABLE TURCHINOV AND DELEGATION SEATED AT TABLE BAN KI-MOON SEATED DELEGATIONS SEATED AT TABLE U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL BAN KI-MOON AND ACTING UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT OLEKSANDER TURCHINOV ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALIST TYPING ON LAPTOP COMPUTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL, BAN KI-MOON, SAYING: "What is important at this time is that, as I have been repeatedly saying, most important thing is that the Ukraine and Russian authorities should sit down together and engage in direct and constructive dialogue, this is what I have advised the President Putin and also I have advised the acting President today and yesterday." NEWS CONFERENCE UNDERWAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL, BAN KI-MOON, SAYING: "As I also said in Moscow, at times like this, it is vital that all parties refrain from any provocative actions that could further exacerbate an already very tense and very volatile situation." MEDIA FILMING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) ACTING UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT, OLEKSANDER TURCHINOV, SAYING: "We are ready to begin negotiations with the Russian Federation in any kind of format, but the main topic in these negotiations should be the full withdrawal of the Russian troops from the Ukrainian territory." MEDIA AT NEWS CONFERENCE U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL BAN KI-MOON AND ACTING UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT OLEKSANDER TURCHINOV SHAKING HANDS AND LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 5th April 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABMF1SBTQN4U5E07KSKALB0CG
  • Story Text: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Ukraine and Russia on Friday (March 21) to meet for talks to prevent the crisis between them becoming "uncontrollable" and spreading beyond the region.
    "What is important at this time is that, as I have been repeatedly saying, most important thing is that the Ukrainian and Russian authorities should sit down together and engage in direct and constructive dialogue, this is what I have advised the President Putin and also I have advised the acting President today and yesterday," Ban Ki-moon said in the Ukrainian capital Kiev after meeting acting President Oleksander Turchinov.
    His visit follows a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday (March 20), where he also called for dialogue and restraint after Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Russian-majority region of Crimea.
    This has brought about the worst confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.
    "As I also said in Moscow, at times like this, it is vital that all parties refrain from any provocative actions that could further exacerbate an already very tense and very volatile situation," he said.
    Turchinov said Ukraine was willing to hold talks, but it would never accept the annexation of Crimea.
    "We are ready to begin negotiations with the Russian Federation in any kind of format, but the main topic in these negotiations should be the full withdrawal of the Russian troops from the Ukrainian territory," he said at a joint press conference with Ban after their meeting.
    Earlier in the day, in defiance of these sentiments and Western leaders who say the Black Sea peninsula remains part of Ukraine, Putin signed legislation that completed the process of absorbing Crimea into Russia.
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