Ukraine crisis: US and Russia to hold key talks

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are due to hold crucial talks to try to ease tensions over the Ukraine crisis.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26444747

---

Ukraine crisis: Russia to hold talks with US after Putin and Obama trade accusations - live updates.

50 minutes ago

The United States and Russia will hold talks on easing east-west tension over Ukraine today, Reuters reports:

US secretary of state John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will meet face-to-face for the first time since the crisis escalated, after a conference in Paris attended by all five permanent members of the UN security council.

Nato and Russia will hold parallel talks in Brussels amid concerns that a standoff between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers in Crimea could still spark violence, or that Moscow could also intervene in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/05/ukraine-crisis-russia-nato-talks-live

[jtuck004]

1. Lavrov is 63, looks to be in a little better shape. Think Kerry can take him? n/t

[davidpdx]

2. Kerry is pretty fiesty

and he did fight in the Vietnam War.

[karynnj]

3. Both prefer diplomacy - but I have read that Lavrov was impressed that Kerry still played

ice hockey at 69. Not to mention, until SoS duties precluded it, he biked the over 100 mile first day of the Pan Mass challenge for years. (In fact, he easily turned in a better time than his fellow Senator - the centerfold athlete -- after Brown said Kerry would never be able to keep up with him except for maybe a few miles.)

Kerry was an athlete in high school and college and is likely as fit as many diplomats half his age. (One of sports was fencing - so Lavrov might be at a disadvantage!)

Notably, he looks way less exhausted from his schedule than anyone could have predicted.