Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
RUSSIA HAS WARNED Kiev that any use of force in Ukraine’s east, where pro-Kremlin militants have seized government buildings in several cities, could tip the country into civil war.
“We call for the immediate cessation of any military preparations, which are fraught with the risk of unleashing civil war,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
The warning comes as militants control buildings in the eastern cities of Kharkiv, Lugansk and Donetsk, where they also declared independence and vowed to vote on joining Russia.
Kiev accused Russia of fomenting the unrest and Washington warned the Kremlin to stop efforts to “destabilise Ukraine,” accusations that Moscow brushed off.
The Russian foreign ministry said on Tuesday it had information that Ukraine was sending internal security forces and volunteers from its National Guard including fighters from Pravy Sektor (Right Sector) ultra-nationalist group, to southeastern Ukraine including Donetsk.
It also alleged that Ukraine was deploying US private security operatives from the Greystone Ltd security firm dressed as Ukrainian special forces.
It said Ukraine had tasked the forces with “suppression using force of the residents of the southeast of the country against the policies of the current Kiev authorities.”
The organisers and participants in this provocation are taking on a huge responsibility for creating a threat to the rights, freedoms and lives of peaceful Ukrainian citizens and to the stability of the Ukrainian state.
The ministry released the statement on its website following talks late Monday between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Deshchytsya.
The ministry said in a statement that Lavrov stressed the “necessity of a respectful attitude to the aspirations of the inhabitants of southeastern Ukraine.”
Lavrov said Kiev must not allow “attempts to react by force to their legal demands for their linguistic, cultural and social-economic rights.”
Lavrov called for Kiev to take “urgent measures” to organise a national dialogue, saying it was ready to “support this process along with the European Union and the United States.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
That woman is so irritating
Embargo? To protect civilians I guess. How many Syrians calling for his death? 1%?
I hate the look of her
how about an embargo on saudi arabia? bahrain? qatar? dubai?
About time. Whatever about Saudi etc, Assad is butchering his people and it has to stop, preferably with more action by the Arabs themselves. Making stupid remarks about Saudi , Bahrain etc ignores the fact that we live in a political world where we sit in the west on our arses each day, in traffic using up oil without caring where it comes from. The middle east and Iran are a tinderbox that can ignite at any time..China and India want more and more of the resource, a resource that unfortunately we are all dependent on to ensure our own way of life. The USA nor the west cannot afford to go in and change the Saudi regime. It is the centre of the Moslem world, Mecca etc. The world cannot be changed by one country alone and the US ability to continue as the worlds police force is waining.
have your say