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Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Arseniy Yatsenyuk -- Ukraine prime minister (acting Head of State) to meet with Obama

The due successor / representative of the Ukranian government will meet with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House on March 12, 2014 -- details forthcoming. . . 2:45 pm The President holds a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk; The Vice President also attends Oval Office [ from WhiteHouse dot-gov -- schedule and appointments ]

1 comment:

Timothy Shaw said...

from PBS News Hour updates (pbs.org/newshour ):
The meeting Wednesday between Obama and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk comes as a pro-Russian area of Ukraine readies for a referendum Sunday to determine its future. Voters in the Crimean Peninsula will be given two options: becoming part of Russia, or remaining in Ukraine with broader powers.

Ahead of the meeting, the U.S. and the other nations in the Group of Seven released a joint statement declaring that they would not recognize the results of the referendum.



“We call on the Russian Federation to immediately halt actions supporting a referendum on the territory of Crimea regarding its status, in direct violation of the constitution of Ukraine,” the statement read. “Any such referendum would have no legal effect.”

The dispute over the future of the former Soviet republic has conjured up echoes of the Cold War tensions between East and West.

Amid the symbolism of Yatsenyuk’s visit to the U.S., the Ukrainian leader will also be seeking financial assistance from Washington. Yatsenyuk says his country needs the West’s help to defend itself against neighboring Russia, a nation he said is “armed to the teeth.”

Ukraine’s parliament installed Yatsenyuk as head of the country’s interim government after pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych fled the capital of Kiev following three months of popular protests.