WASHINGTON, August 10 (RIA Novosti) - US Secretary of State John Kerry in a phone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that providing humanitarian aid to the people in southeastern Ukraine should be coordinated with the international organizations and spoke out against Russia’s potential peacekeeping initiative, US State Department said in a statement.
“Secretary of State Kerry stressed that the best way to provide additional humanitarian aid to eastern Ukraine is to coordinate with international organizations, many of which are already in place, and that the aid should be granted with the consent of the Ukrainian government,” said the statement.
Kerry also made it clear that Russia should not interfere in the situation in Ukraine under the pretext of humanitarian convoys or "peacekeeping," according to the statement.
Earlier on Saturday, Russian Foreign Ministry said that Lavrov in a phone conversation with Kerry stressed the necessity of urgent measures to avert a looming humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine’s southeastern regions. In this context, Russian top diplomat urged to support Russia’s initiative on the deployment of a humanitarian mission in Ukraine's southeast in coordination with international organizations.
On Tuesday, Russia came up with a proposal at the UN Security Council to deploy an international humanitarian mission with Russian humanitarian aid under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine’s troubled eastern regions.
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said Moscow is calling on the international community to take urgent measures to render humanitarian assistance to the citizens of Ukraine’s east. In this case, Churkin stressed, Russia was ready for "highest possible transparency."
