– Oval Office handshake –
“Unfortunately, for now Russia is rejecting a diplomatic solution to the conflict,” said Turchynov.
“They are refusing all contact at foreign ministry and top government level.”
The acting president also rubbished as “madness” claims that Russian speakers in Ukraine faced discrimination following the rise new and more nationalist leaders to power in Kiev.
The White House is leaving no doubt about the message it intends to send to Russia with the visit of Yatsenyuk a leader Moscow considers illegitimate.
He will be greeted like any other foreign leader by Obama in the Oval Office a symbol of US power and also meet Joe Biden after the US Vice President rushed back from a trip to South America to take part in the talks.
Washington says the reception for Yatsenyuk is intended to show it believes that the interim government in Kiev has been playing a responsible role in the crisis.
“We strongly support Ukraine, the Ukrainian people and the legitimacy of the new Ukrainian government,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.
But Carney also stressed that the White House was still offering the Kremlin an “off ramp” for ending the dispute without any bloodshed and with Ukraine’s territorial integrity held intact.
Yatsenyuk will also use the chance to iron out the details of a $35 billion aid package he says his nation’s teetering economy needs to stay afloat over the coming two years after being mismanaged by president Viktor Yanukovych now living in self imposed exile in Russia.
The White House said Obama would discuss an economic support package that has already seen Washington pledge more than $1 billion and the European Union 11 billion euros over two years.
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