President Obama, Vladimir Putin Talk Ukraine Unrest

President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone Monday but appeared to do little to narrow or obscure the wide gulf between the U.S. and Russian governments over the continuing unrest in Ukraine.

A Russian foreign ministry statement about the leaders’ phone call described a situation in Ukraine starkly different from the picture painted by U.S. officials and Western news outlets.

U.S. officials have accused Russian-backed paramilitaries and militia forces of taking over government buildings in eastern Ukraine, less than two months after Russian troops and well-armed fighters with few visible insignia staged similar takeovers in the Crimea region.

However, the Russian statement referred to “southeastern regions” of Ukraine being “engulfed by mass protests against the policies of the current authorities in Kiev.”

Russia effectively annexed Crimea last month after a referendum there in which voters reportedly backed such a move by overwhelming numbers. The vote was not recognized by most world powers.

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