US, Ukraine dismiss change of tack by Putin

MOSCOW, May 8 (AFP): Russian President Vladimir Putin told rebels in Ukraine to halt plans for independence votes and said his troops have pulled back from the border, but his apparent change of heart received short shrift from Kiev and Washington.
Putin on Wednesday also hailed a planned May 25 presidential election in Ukraine-previously condemned by the Kremlin-as a "move in the right direction".
The surprise comments suggested a potential resolution of the conflict in Ukraine which has snowballed into Europe's worst standoff since the Cold War, as government troops battle to wrest back control of more than a dozen towns seized by the pro-Russia rebels.
Putin's new stance helped power rallies on financial markets in Moscow and New York. The United States and Europe have been preparing sanctions to hammer whole swathes of the Russian economy, which is teetering on recession, if the Ukraine presidential poll is scuppered.
But the White House and NATO said there was no sign of a Russian troop withdrawal, and Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk accused Putin of "talking through his hat" about the independence referendums, because they were illegitimate to begin with.
Putin ordered an estimated 40,000 troops to Ukraine's border two months ago, but said: "We have pulled them back. Today they are not at the Ukrainian border but in places of regular exercises, at training grounds."
Putin told the separatists in Ukraine "to postpone the referendums planned for May 11 in order to create the conditions necessary for dialogue".
Putin made his declarations after meeting Swiss President Didier Burkhalter, current chief of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Meanwhile, A US warship arrived on Thursday in Georgia's port of Batumi, the US embassy said, sending a message of support to NATO allies amid the spiralling crisis in neighbouring Ukraine.
The USS Taylor's "presence in Georgia reaffirms the United States' commitment to strengthening ties with NATO allies and partners like Georgia, while working toward mutual goals of promoting peace and stability in the region," the embassy said in a statement.
The US 6th Fleet frigate arrived in Georgia for three days of exercises with the country's coastguard in the Black Sea after completing joint live-fire exercises and an anti-submarine warfare scenario along with Romanian ships.
"Allied ships, planes, exercises show vigilance and resolve from the Baltic to the Black Sea. We'll keep reinforcing NATO security," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
Events in neighbouring Ukraine's standoff with Russia have alarmed Tbilisi which fought and lost its own war with Moscow in 2008, and says it is still exposed to a Russian threat.