Dialogue needed between Kiev authorities and southeastern Ukraine - Putin in conversation with Merkel
4 May 2014, 21:14 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel had a phone conversation on Sunday in accordance with a prior arrangement. Putin and Merkel continued discussing the crisis in Ukraine, the Kremlin press service has reported. Putin and Merkel pointed out the importance of taking effective international measures, primarily through the OSCE, to relieve the tensions in Ukraine. In this regard, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter will arrive in Moscow on May 7, the press service said.
Putin reiterated the need to establish direct dialogue between the current Kiev administration and representatives of the southeastern regions of Ukraine, Interfax reports.
'The German chancellor expressed her satisfaction with the assistance provided by Russia in the release of the military observers of some foreign countries, including Germany, detained in the Donetsk region,' the report says.
The leaders of Russia and Germany also exchanged opinions on the issue of the supply and transit of Russian gas with regard for the multiparty consultations (Russia-EU-Ukraine) recently held in Warsaw to discuss the issue, the Kremlin press service reported.
OSCE, Council of Europe should immediately make objective assessment of Ukrainian events - Moscow
The Russian Foreign Ministry is calling on the OSCE and the Council of Europe to urgently respond to the tragic developments in southeast Ukraine. 'At a time when Ukrainian punitive squads are conducting their operations in Eastern Ukraine cleansing some communities and blocking others, the West has imposed an actual information blockade on the tragic developments taking place in that country,' the ministry commentary issued in relation to the latest developments in Ukraine says.
'It is symptomatic that even in OSCE circles nobody knows that blood is shed and troops are shooting at unarmed people in Ukraine. What freedom of speech and freedom of the press can one be speaking in such conditions?' the report posted on the ministry website says.
'We demand that the relevant institutions of OSCE and the Council of Europe immediately give an objective evaluation of the developments in Ukraine,' the ministry said, Interfax reports.
Ukraine saw Friday the bloodiest violence since the February overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych, with dozens killed in clashes across the country. The highest casualty toll was reported in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa where 46 people died and over 200 were injured, RIA reports.
Clashes broke out between federalization activists on one side and fans of the Odessa and Kharkov football teams, who were joined by Euromaidan activists on the other.
Pro-Kiev radicals blocked the anti-government protesters in the Trade Unions House and set the building on fire. Some burned to death, while others suffocated or jumped out of windows. A two-day national mourning has been announced in the country.
Moscow earlier described Kiev's actions as a punitive operation that ruins last hope for implementation of Geneva accords on de-escalation of Ukrainian crisis.
Lavrov urges to use OSCE potential to force Kiev into cancelling military operation in Ukraine's southeast
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Didier Burkhalter called for full compliance with the Geneva Statement of April 17 on Ukraine, starting with an immediate ceasefire. They also agreed to use the OSCE potential for fostering a real and equal dialogue between the Kiev authorities and representatives of the South-East of Ukraine.
'The parties have condemned the expansion of violence in Ukraine, especially the riotous behavior of radicals in Odessa. Lavrov urged to use the OSCE's potential to force Kiev into cancelling the military operation against civilians in the south-eastern regions of Ukraine,' the ministry stated, RIA reports.
Russia believes the Slavyansk self-defense forces have manifested courage and humanity by handing the European military experts to Russian presidential envoy Vladimir Lukin, who took them to Donetsk.
'This step was made by the Slavyansk self-defense forces despite the deliberate escalation of the internal crisis by the so-called administration in Kiev in a situation when a peaceful city is subjected to a direct unmotivated attack, in which troops and Right Sector fighters dressed in National Guard uniform are broadly used,' the information and press department of the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a commentary on the release of the European military specialists in Slavyansk.
'No doubt, it indicates the courage and humanity of the city defenders. They, above all, showed care for the safety of the foreign citizens to prevent them from being hurt in the punitive operation,' the document says, TASS reports.
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