NEW YORK, March 19 (RIA Novosti) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will visit Moscow and Kiev later this week in an effort to resolve the ongoing political crisis in Ukraine through peaceful dialogue, the UN press service said Wednesday.
The UN chief is scheduled to arrive in Moscow on Thursday and will visit Kiev on Friday.
The future of the predominantly Russian-ethnic Crimea, previously an autonomous republic within Ukraine, has sparked the most serious geopolitical showdown between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War.
Crimea signed a reunification treaty with Moscow on Tuesday following a referendum Sunday in which some 96.7 percent of voters backed joining Russia after 60 years as part of Ukraine.
