EU foreign ministers refuse to comment on leaked Paet-Ashton phone talk at Lavrov's request - Russian diplomat
ROME. March 6 (Interfax) - The EU foreign ministers have declined Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's request that they comment on an audio recording of a telephone conversation between EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet, which was made public on Wednesday, a source from the Russian delegation said on Thursday.
"During Sergei Lavrov's contacts with [U.S. Secretary of State] John Kerry and a number of EU foreign ministers in Paris, the Russian minister wondered how they might comment on the leaked telephone conversation between Catherine Ashton and Urmas Paet," the source told journalists.
"His counterparts replied that they do not comment on leaks," he said.
Paet suggested in his telephone conversation with Ashton, supposedly dated February 25, that he had the feeling that the new coalition in Ukraine was unwilling to investigate the shooting in Kyiv at the end of February.
Paet has confirmed authenticity of his conversation with Ashton, which appeared on social media on Wednesday, but insisted that he did not assess the Ukrainian opposition's involvement in violence in Kyiv, the Estonian Foreign Ministry said.
"The conversation between Paet and Ashton took place on 26 February after the Estonian Foreign Minister's return from his visit to Ukraine. His visit took place last week, soon after the end of street violence in Kyiv," the Estonian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
