Kiev refuses to engage in dialogue: Moscow
Iran Press TV
Tue May 13, 2014 12:55PM GMT
Russia has accused the pro-Western interim leaders in Ukraine of refusing to negotiate with pro-Moscow activists in the south and east of the country.
On Tuesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said that the Kiev government's "refusal to engage in real dialogue...was a serious impediment to a de-escalation" of the crisis in the country.
The minister said that regional rights in Ukraine must be discussed in the near future, at least before the country holds a presidential election on May 25.
Karasin added that Western sanctions against Moscow will only deepen differences and hinder efforts to resolve the turmoil in Ukraine.
The statement came after residents in the two eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk took part in local referendums on their future status.
Pro-Russia activists say nearly 90 percent of the voters in Donetsk have voted in favor of independence from Ukraine.
Results in Lugansk showed that 96.2 percent of voters supported independence from the central government in Kiev.
The region now plans to ask the United Nations to recognize its independence, also announcing that it will not participate in Ukraine's presidential election.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's acting President Oleksandr Turchynov has slammed the referendums, calling them a "farce without any legal basis."
The Sunday referendums echoed a March vote in Crimea that led to the reunification of the peninsula with the Russian Federation. Nearly 97 percent of participants in Crimea's referendum voted for rejoining Russia.
GMA/AB
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