Burns to travel to Turkey, Ukraine this week

US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns will travel to Turkey and Ukraine later this week for talks with their officials. The State Department said in a statement on Monday that Burns will travel to Istanbul on February 24 where he will meet with Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu to discuss "the broad range of bilateral and regional issues on which Turkey and the United States are in regular contact, including the Syria crisis, counterterrorism, and the Cyprus settlement process." Burns will then travel to Kyiv on February 25-26, where he will consult with key Ukrainian leaders, the business community, and civil society "on US support for Ukraine's efforts to secure a stable, democratic, inclusive, prosperous future." The statement added that Burns will also "honor the memory of the victims of the tragic events of last week," and he will meet with "a range of political, business, and civil society representatives -- and will urge the new government to take all steps necessary for free and fair presidential elections in May." "He will urge the rapid formation of a national unity government that represents the wide array of stakeholders in Ukraine's domestic political discourse, and encourage immediate steps to undertake the critical reforms necessary to restore Ukraine's political and economic health," according to the statement. The statement indicated that Burns will be accompanied by representatives of the Department of the Treasury and the National Economic Council, "who will work in concert with partners such as the EU and the IMF to discuss needed financial support while a new government implements the difficult steps necessary to reform the economy." "The Deputy Secretary will encourage all Ukrainians to continue their efforts to write a new chapter in their history that leads to a Ukraine that is democratic, sovereign, prosperous, and free to choose its own future," the statement affirmed.