Statement by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the forceful operation in the South-East of Ukraine
Russia is outraged about the start of a punitive military operation in Slavyansk using terrorists from the Right Sector and other ultra-nationalist organisations. Ukrainian army units use tanks, other heavy machinery, military helicopters, which strike protesters with missiles. We are receiving information about the dead and wounded.
We warned many times that the use of the army against its own people is a crime and is leading Ukraine into a disaster.
If there were any doubts before, now it has become absolutely clear that the numerous statements by the so-called Ukrainian government about their intention to start a nation-wide dialogue to find a way out of the deepest crisis in Ukraine is nothing but hypocrisy.
The Kiev regime, which has already broken the Agreement of the 21 February, has now grossly violated its obligations under the Geneva Statement of the 17 April, which requests an end to any violence as a matter of urgency.
The representative of the Russian President, Vladimir Lukin was sent to the Donetsk Region a few days ago at the request of our western partners in following consultation with the Council of Europe to assist in settling the situation with the military specialists from European countries, who were detained in Slavyansk. We request that all measures are exhausted to ensure the security of the Russian representative, because we do not exclude the possibility of provocations from the Kiev regime for the purposes of disrupting his mission, which is already under threat because of the aggressive actions of the Ukrainian army and radical militants around Slavyansk.
We are especially concerned regarding information received that English was heard on air during the punitive operation of the Ukrainian army and illegal ultranationalist formations, and English-speaking foreigners were identified among the attackers. We strongly advise against any external interference into the events in Ukraine which we view as unlawful. In this regard, let us recall earlier reports that were quite indistinctly refuted by Washington regarding the presence of contractors from a US private military organisation in Ukraine. It is well known that the so-called private military organisations do not work abroad without sanctions from the U.S. Department of State.
By supporting organisers of the coup d'etat in Kiev in their attempts to suppress protests by force, the United States and the EU undertake great responsibility and actually block any route to a peaceful settlement of this crisis. Against this backdrop, it does not seem that it was by chance that Washington categorically refused (despite the requirements of the Geneva Statement of the 17 April) to support the proposition about the organisation of a dialogue between representatives of the Kiev authorities and South-Eastern regions of Ukraine under the aegis of the OSCE.
We unequivocally request from the West to withdraw from its destructive policy with regard to Ukraine, and we request from those, who pronounced themselves as the authorities in Kiev, to immediately stop their punitive operation and any violence against their own people, to free political detainees and to ensure full freedom of journalists' activity. This would allow the beginning of a real de-escalation process. A truly equal political dialogue with participation of all the regions should start immediately for the purposes of developing generally acceptable agreements on the future of the country, rather than attempting to imitate reforms in a select group of the self-proclaimed "coalition of champions".
2 May 2014
