Kyiv should take first step to de-escalate conflict - Lavrov
MOSCOW. April 24 (Interfax) - It is the Kyiv authorities that need to take the first step in de-escalating the conflict in southeastern Ukraine, while understanding that the use of armed forces against the people in that region is a crime, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"The main precondition for Ukraine to overcome the crisis is the termination of unlawful actions by the Kyiv authorities, who should realize their responsibility for everything that was signed on February 21 and April 17 in Geneva. It says clearly that there must be no violence," Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow on Thursday.
"Using the army, not to mention leaning on radical nationalists, against the people is an absolutely unacceptable form of violence. Moreover, I believe this is a criminal decision," Lavrov said.
"We have no doubts that it is the Kyiv authorities who should take the first steps. This is an absolutely indisputable thing, and evading it and trying to do what our Western partners are doing by presenting the matter as if angels have taken the throne in Kyiv and they are doing everything right and without any mistake is simply incorrect," he said.
He criticized the West for accusing Russia of "intervening in what is happening in the southeast [of Ukraine] without presenting a single fact."
The U.S. should influence the Kyiv authorities, Lavrov said. "I have no doubts that our American partners may influence the people who have invested themselves with power in Kyiv, and I've already said this," he said.
"I am convinced that our American partners can and should use all their influence to make the current Kyiv authorities not only realize but practically exercise their responsibility for what is happening," Lavrov said.
"What is happening in Slovyansk now and what happened in Mariupol last night is a result of an irresponsible policy leaning on ultra-nationalist, extremist, and in large part neo-Nazi groups, which had to be disarmed in keeping with the February 21 agreement," he said.
"We want steps toward de-escalating the situation to be taken immediately," he said.
"Simultaneously pulling the army out, constraining Right Sector, and disarming its militants and their ilk, it is necessary to start a constitutional reform. Not simply say that the Kyiv authorities invite representatives of regions to a broad dialogue but practically convene something like a roundtable or a constitutional assembly - it doesn't matter what it's called - and work to absorb the regions' demands and reach a compromise. This is crucial for Ukrainians to determine their own fate without being dictated from the outside," Lavrov said.
