Biden tours famous Kiev monastery

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden tours famous Mikhailovsky monastery in Kiev after holding meetings with Ukrainian leaders. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

Published

9 months ago

Categories

World

Topics

Europe, World, International Relations

People

Joe Biden

Places

United States of America, Ukraine, Russia, Moscow, Kiev

Transcript

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) STORY: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited famous Mikhailovsky monastery in Kiev after holding meetings with Ukrainian leaders on Tuesday. Biden told Russia on Tuesday that "time is short" for action on defusing the crisis in eastern Ukraine, but Moscow said it could handle any tougher economic sanctions the West might impose. Speaking on a visit to Kiev, Biden called on Moscow to pull back troops built up on Ukraine's borders and to "stop talking and start acting" on getting Russian separatists who have seized control in eastern towns and cities to disarm. The United States has repeatedly warned Russia it faces "mounting costs" if it fails to ensure full implementation of an international agreement struck last week on calming the crisis. This stipulates the rebels must leave the government buildings that they have occupied in the past two weeks. Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and the eastern rebellion have deepened the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War, and Biden demanded the removal of Russian forces near Ukraine's frontier which Moscow insists are merely on exercises.