Kerry briefs NATO on Putin meeting 

ANTALYA, Turkey – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on May 13 warned Moscow that now is a critical time to fulfill a shaky cease-fire deal in eastern Ukraine, after holding lengthy talks with President Vladimir Putin. Mr. Kerry told a meeting of NATO foreign affairs ministers in Turkey that now is a “critical moment for action by Russia and separatists to live up to the Minsk agreement” signed in the Belarusian capital earlier this year. The two-day NATO gathering on May 13 was due to discuss the continued crisis in Ukraine and instability throughout the Middle East, including Syria and Iraq. Mr. Kerry, who spent all day on May 12 in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi, where he and Mr. Putin discussed Ukraine, said this was a “critical moment” for Russia and the separatists to fulfill the truce deal. “This is an enormous moment of opportunity for the conflict there to find a path to certainty and resolution,” Kerry said. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Russia must stop supporting the rebels and withdraw all its forces from eastern Ukraine. “Now is the time to act… there is urgency when it comes to fulfilling the Minsk agreement,” Mr. Stoltenberg said. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters and the Associated Press)