The United States and Russia were set to hold talks Wednesday with the goal of easing East-West tensions over Ukraine, Reuters reported. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet face-to-face for the first time since the crisis escalated, following a conference in Paris attended by all five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Meanwhile, NATO and Russia will hold similar talks in Brussels amid concerns that a standoff between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers in Crimea could cause more violence, or that Moscow could also spar with eastern Ukraine. Although Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that he would use force only as a last resort in Ukraine, he has not given any sign that he will pull servicemen from the strategic Crimean Peninsula.
