Kerry Pledges $1 Bln Loan During Kiev Visit

US Secretary of State John Kerry pledged $1 billion in US loan guarantees, offering much-needed financial help for Ukraine’s new government during his visit to Kiev on Tuesday.

Along with the loan, the US was also ready to provide technical support for the country's central bank and finance ministry, Kerry said.

Ukraine’s economy is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy as it tackles a punishing balance-of-payments crisis. President Obama said after introducing the 2015 US budget that the proposed aid package would “stabilize the economy in Ukraine, help to make sure that fair and free elections take place very soon and as a consequence help de-escalate the crisis.” Kerry’s visit to Kiev, the highest-level since the ouster of the pro-Russian government 10 days ago, came amid reports of large deployments of apparently Russia-commanded troops in Crimea.

The US wants Russia to "return its troops to the barracks," Kerry said Russian President Vladimir Putin denied the deployments earlier in the day and said a military intervention in Russia’s western neighbor would be a last resort to defend the interests of the region’s Russian-speaking majority. "Russia has talked about Russian-speaking citizens being under siege. They're not," Kerry told reporters in Kiev.

“I think it’s is clear that Russia has been working hard to create a pretext for being able to invade further,” the top US diplomat said.

He admitted Moscow has "legitimate" interests in the country, such as a naval base in Crimea, and called on Russia to start direct negotiations with the interim authorities in Kiev and to engage in other bilateral and international diplomatic efforts. Simultaneously, US President Barack Obama delivered a similar message in Washington. Russia may have legitimate interests in Ukraine, but “that does not give it the right to use force as a means of exerting influence inside of that state,” the US leader said.

“We have said that if in fact there is any evidence out there that Russian speakers or Russian natives or Russian nationals are in any way being threatened, there are ways of dealing with that through international mechanisms,” Obama said.

“I know President Putin seems to have a different set of lawyers making a different set of interpretations, but I don't think that's fooling anybody,” he continued.