Paris should focus on complying with Feb 21 deal - ministry
MOSCOW. March 16 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian crisis should be resolved by complying with the February 21 agreement, and not by accusing Russia of escalating the situation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"It was with a sense of profound bewilderment that we heard another statement by French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Laurent Fabius on Ukraine, posted by him on Twitter, in which he lays full blame for the escalation of tensions there solely on Russia," the ministry said in a commentary posted on its website.
"As if Fabius was unaware that the people who usurped power in Kyiv as a result of a coup, would not lift a finger to normalize the domestic situation through transparent preparation of a constitutional reform with participation of all Ukrainian political forces and regions, through necessary reforms aimed at providing comfortable and safe living conditions for all Ukrainians without an exception," the ministry said.
"Nor did the minister say a single word about (Ukrainian Acting President Oleksandr) Turchynov's criminal order to suppress protests by local residents in southeast Ukraine, which is against the country's Constitution and the requirements of reason in general," the Foreign Ministry said.
"Furthermore, our French partners do not want to acknowledge the obvious fact that it is the evident anti-Semites, radicals and neo-fascists who today are running the show in Kyiv. Were it otherwise, it would be surprising, since Fabius sees Mr. Tiahnybok - who ranks fifth on the list of the Europe's most raging anti-Semites, according to the Wiesenthal Center - as quite a respectable politicians, "possibly, a little more to the right of the traditional right-wingers," the ministry said.
"What is particularly regretful is that these sort of remarks are being made by the French foreign-policy chief who certified the well-known February 21 agreement which set the route towards the restoration of order in Ukraine. Instead of hollow accusations that Russia is ostensibly the primary cause of all trouble in Ukraine, French diplomacy led by Fabius should rather focus its efforts on honoring the obligations France has assumed as a guarantor of the aforementioned agreement of February 21, 2014. What is happening now, with those in power in Kyiv intent on launching a war against their own people cynically and without the slightest remorse, might not have happened then," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.