Russia Rejects Implication In Killing People On Kyiv Maidan

Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov rejects Russia’s implication in killing anti-government protesters in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square), Kyiv, in February, the press-service of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in the press-release following Lavrov’s meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Vladimir Makeyev on April 4.

Lavrov answered the question on a possible Russian-Ukrainian joint investigation into the February 20 events in Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Kyiv, where the antigovernment protesters were shot.

The Russian Foreign Minister recalled signing the agreement on the settlement of the political crisis in Ukraine with then-President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition leaders on February 21.

He pointed to the agreement provision on a joint investigation with the government and the opposition into the February 20 and the precedent events.

“As to the joint Russian-Ukrainian investigation, the crime was not committed in our territory, but in the territory of Ukraine, and we did not have and could not have any connection with it. Moreover, our law agencies did not get any appeal from those who used the February 20 events to take power and stage the constitutional coup,” the minister stressed.

He thinks after seizing the power the opposition forgot about the agreement and did not do anything more than a month to suppress radicals, disarm illegal groupings, unblock buildings, streets and squares.

“The investigation paled into insignificance. They have even given amnesty to those who directed their efforts to Maidan,” Lavrov added.

In conclusion, the Russian foreign minister emphasizes the Ukrainian current authorities ignored independent experts’ numerous viewpoints on what had happened in Maidan those days, who shot and where there were snipers.

As Ukrainian News reported, the Security Service of Ukraine suggests the Russian Federal Security Service’s involvement in the development of the crackdown plan on Euromaidan activists in the center of Kyiv.