WASHINGTON, April 17 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow and Kiev can find common ground during Thursday's four-party talks on the crisis in Ukraine in Geneva, former US Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Karl Pifer told RIA Novosti.
If Russian Prime Minister Sergei Lavrov comes with a mandate to try to defuse the crisis, “the US, EU, Ukrainian and Russian representatives could have a useful discussion on certain questions,” said Pifer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
One of the important issues to be discussed at the talks is the decentralization of power in Ukraine, the former ambassador said.
“Kiev has said that it favors some diffusion of authority to the regions, and that makes sense from the point of view of more efficient and accountable governance, though I don't think Kiev is prepared to go as far as Moscow may want,” he elaborated.
“Another question would be de-escalatory steps. Yet another issue would be Ukraine's international status,” he said.
“Kiev says that it is not interested in joining NATO, and there is no serious interest in the Alliance in bringing Ukraine in at this point, which ought to reassure Russia,” he added.
The Geneva talks will also have to address the Crimea issue, Pifer thinks.
“But it might be better for the talks in Geneva to focus first on steps to ratchet down the current tensions and address Crimea later,” he added.
Thursday’s planned meeting in Geneva is to be attended by delegates from Russia, the European Union, the United States and Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry earlier said that the agenda will focus on the de-escalation of tensions, disarmament of illegal armed groups and constitutional reforms in the crisis-torn country.
