Russia: We’re counting on West to prevent civil war in Ukraine
Ampliar
Pro-Russian supporters attend a rally in downtown Kharkiv, Ukraine, 13 April 2014. The Ukrainian government in Kyiv has sent special forces soldiers to the eastern city of Slaviansk after armed pro-Russian activists seized police buildings in the city on 12 April. EFE/EPA
Moscow, Apr 13 (EFE).- Russia said Sunday that it is depending on the West to avert a civil war in Ukraine in the face of the deterioration of the situation in the mainly Russian-speaking areas of that country’s southeast.
In a communique, the Russian Foreign Minister proposed that the crisis situation in those regions be “urgently” examined by the U.N. Security Council and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE.
In the text, the foreign ministry expressed indignation over the “criminal order” by Ukrainian interim President Alexander Turchinov to use the army to suppress pro-Russian protests in the east.
“We demand of those who toppled the legitimate president of Ukraine to immediately halt the war against their own people and comply with their obligations regarding the Feb. 21 agreement,” signed by then-President Viktor Yanukovych with the opposition with the mediation of several European countries amid massive protests in Kyiv, said the note.
According to Moscow, the European countries who supported the Maidan protests (named for Kyiv’s Independence Square, the focal point of the demonstrations), as well as the United States, “are obligated to bring their pupils under control, to urge them to distance themselves from the neo-Nazis and other extremists and halt the employment of the armed forces against the Ukrainian people.”
It also urged that “a national dialogue with the participation of all the regions” be urgently convened in Ukraine.