Russia: West's threats do harm to all

PARIS/KIEV -- High-level diplomatic talks on the Ukraine crisis involving Russia, the United States and Ukraine failed to reach an agreement amid mounting pressure on Russia from the West.

It was difficult to reach agreements with the threats, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said when speaking to media after talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Paris.

He reaffirmed Russia's position that an EU-brokered agreement signed on February 21, which foresaw constitutional reform that would take into account the wishes of all Ukraine regions, should be the basis for stabilizing the situation.

Lavrov said the US and Russia agreed to join efforts to help Ukraine reach the February 21 agreement.

During Wednesday's talks, Lavrov did not talk to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchitsya, whose new government is regarded as illegitimate by Moscow.

Also Wednesday, a top Russian legislator urged the West not to threaten sanctions against Moscow, as the potential isolation could be mutually counter-productive.

"Threats and language of sanctions towards Russia are absolutely counter-productive. It is impossible to imagine how sanctions could isolate Russia from the global economic process," Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament) chair Valentina Matvienko told reporters.

She said the Russian economy was deeply integrated into the global economy, and trade between Russia and the West was mutually beneficial.

Noting 40 percent of Russia's imports came from the European Union, and 50 percent of its exports went to the EU, Matvienko said it was hard to imagine that these trade flows could be stopped.

She said any reasonable politician must understand the Russian and Ukrainian economies were intertwined, so Moscow could not be detached from Ukrainian affairs.

Matvienko added that if a "radical and neo-fascist plug" in Ukraine was not stopped now, other countries would soon experience the overthrow of their authorities, too.

"It's time to stop speaking to Russia with the language of ultimatums," she said, adding, only through political dialogue could it be possible to work out positive agenda for Moscow and the West.

However, NATO announced it was cutting back cooperation with Russia to try to pressure it into backing down on Ukraine.

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