Ukrainian, Russian Foreign Ministers Confer; Obama tells European Leaders to Spend More on Defense Because He is Slashing Defense Spending; Russia sends 10,000 Additional Troops to Ukraine Border

BALTIMORE, Maryland March 24, 2014 - The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine have met face-to-face for the first time since the current crisis began in February of this year. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukraine's Acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia sat across a table from each other in a room without other diplomats today in Brussels, where both are attending a nuclear security summit in The Hague. At the same conference, USA President Barack Obama told Western leaders that they need to spend more on defense spending because he is slashing defense spending. This, as a new intelligence report says that Russia increased the number of troops on the Ukraine border by 50% over just this past weekend.

While few details about the meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers are known, Lavrov told the Western press at a briefing later that the two men "set forth our vision to establish good national dialogue taking into account all residents of Ukraine." A report in the London Evening Standard said Lavrov reportedly demanded constitutional change to give more autonomy for Ukraine’s regions. The Weekly Standard story said Russia is eager to retain its influence in Ukraine’s Russian-speaking eastern regions, including cities such as Donetsk, and prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. It is not known what Deshchytsia's reply was. Nor did Obama elaborate on his warning to his fellow Western leaders. He did not justify the huge cuts in USA defense spending.

Intelligence sources said that before this past weekend Russia was believed to have about 20,000 soldiers massed on the Ukraine Border, but rushed another 10,000 soldiers to the prospective front in the last three days. Those troops are known to be equipped with tanks, armored personnel carriers, attack helicopters, war planes, and heavy artillery.

Western leaders did agree to suspend Russia from membership in the G8 and change the group's name to the G7. Their next meeting was to be in Sochi, Russia, but that meeting has been changed to Brussels in June. Lavrov told the media that Russia was "unfazed" by the suspension, saying that Russia's membership in the group has "worn out its usefulness."

"If our Western partners think that this format has outlived itself, then so be it. At the very least, we are not trying to cling on to this format," Lavrov told reporters.