Russia’s Sergei Lavrov alleges lawlessness in eastern Ukraine
11 March 2014 12:29 AM GMT
Ukraine’s foreign minister said on Monday his country already feels like it’s almost in a state of war after Russian forces took effective control of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. A referendum has been called there for Sunday on whether the region should split off and seek to become part of Russia.
Pro-Russia sentiment is also high in Ukraine’s east and there are fears Russia could seek to incorporate that area as well.
The Kremlin statement also claimed Russian citizens trying to enter Ukraine have been turned back at the border by Ukrainian officials.
On Sunday, a pro-Russian crowd in the eastern city of Luhansk occupied the regional government headquarters, raised the Russian tricolour and demanded the right to hold a referendum on joining Russia, like in Crimea.
In its Monday statement, the Russian foreign ministry said lawlessness ‘now rules in eastern regions of Ukraine as a result of the actions of fighters of the so-called ‘Right Sector’ with the full connivance’ of Ukraine’s new authorities.
Right Sector is a grouping of several far-right and nationalist factions. Its activists were among the most radical and confrontational of the demonstrators in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, and organized ‘self-defense’ brigades for the protest camp.
On Monday in Kiev, Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Deshchytsya received his counterparts from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, who had come to show support for Ukraine in what has turned into Europe’s greatest geopolitical crisis since the end of the cold war.
‘We have to admit that our life now is almost like... a war,’ Deshchytsya said, speaking in English. ‘We have to cope with an aggression that we do not understand.’
He said Ukraine is counting on help from abroad to deal with its giant neighbour to the east.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk will be received in Washington by President Obama, the White House has announced.
Obama has warned that the 16 March vote in Crimea would violate international law. But on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin made it clear that he supports the referendum, in phone calls with German chancellor Angela Merkel and British Minister David Cameron.
Pro-Russia sentiment is also high in Ukraine’s east and there are fears Russia could seek to incorporate that area as well.
The Kremlin statement also claimed Russian citizens trying to enter Ukraine have been turned back at the border by Ukrainian officials.
On Sunday, a pro-Russian crowd in the eastern city of Luhansk occupied the regional government headquarters, raised the Russian tricolour and demanded the right to hold a referendum on joining Russia, like in Crimea.
In its Monday statement, the Russian foreign ministry said lawlessness ‘now rules in eastern regions of Ukraine as a result of the actions of fighters of the so-called ‘Right Sector’ with the full connivance’ of Ukraine’s new authorities.
Right Sector is a grouping of several far-right and nationalist factions. Its activists were among the most radical and confrontational of the demonstrators in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, and organized ‘self-defense’ brigades for the protest camp.
On Monday in Kiev, Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Deshchytsya received his counterparts from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, who had come to show support for Ukraine in what has turned into Europe’s greatest geopolitical crisis since the end of the cold war.
‘We have to admit that our life now is almost like... a war,’ Deshchytsya said, speaking in English. ‘We have to cope with an aggression that we do not understand.’
He said Ukraine is counting on help from abroad to deal with its giant neighbour to the east.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk will be received in Washington by President Obama, the White House has announced.
Obama has warned that the 16 March vote in Crimea would violate international law. But on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin made it clear that he supports the referendum, in phone calls with German chancellor Angela Merkel and British Minister David Cameron.
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