Secretary Kerry: any decision to federalize Ukraine will be made by Ukraine

When asked about Russia's interest in federalizing Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry responded that such a decision would be made by Ukraine itself.

"It’s not up to us to make any decision or any agreement regarding federalization. We talked about it. But it’s up to Ukrainians, and Ukrainians will decide their future for themselves, by themselves, with respect to what kind of definitions work for them. And it will have to be an input, obviously, of what the Russian view is. I think it’s important to take that into account because Russia obviously has long ties and serious interests. But in the end, Ukrainians are going to have to make that decision."

Kerry's comments came after his four-hour meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov concerning a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in Ukraine. Both leaders now seem to be on the same page, with Lavrov echoing the American mantra that Ukraine's future should be determined by Ukraine.

As Lavrov emerged from his meeting with Kerry, he said that Russia is "convinced that federalization is a very important component of this reform, the most important is to ensure the unity of Ukraine taking into account the interests of all regions of the country, without exceptions, so that the country functions as a state. We need to find a compromise, consensus among all regions."

[State Department] [RT]