PERU: Speaking at a news conference Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov states "authorities in Kiev must feel and realize their responsibility and they have to establish a dialogue with the representatives from the south and east of the country"

Record ID: 603891

  • Title: PERU: Speaking at a news conference Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov states "authorities in Kiev must feel and realize their responsibility and they have to establish a dialogue with the representatives from the south and east of the country"
  • Date: 1st May 2014
  • Summary: LIMA, PERU (APRIL 30, 2014) (REUTERS) LAVROV AND RIVAS ARRIVE AT PERU'S FOREIGN MINISTRY AND GO DOWN SOME STAIRS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) SERGEI LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYING: "In any case Russia and Peru, as the Minister said, favor establishing a dialogue in Ukraine. This is the principle task and the authorities in Kiev must feel and realize their responsibility
  • Embargoed: 16th May 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Peru
  • Country: Peru
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVABHS2YWZL43QSV5QSQ1WDWIOZ7
  • Story Text: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday (April 30) that Russian favors "establishing a dialogue in Ukraine" between the government in Kiev and it's opponents in the south eastern regions.
    This is the principle task and the authorities in Kiev must feel and realize their responsibility and they have to establish a dialogue with the representatives from the south and east of the country," he said in Lima, Peru after meeting with that country's President and Foreign Minister.

    "Russia believes that such a dialogue between the authorities in Kiev and its opponents in the other regions of the country could be established within the framework of the Organization of European Security and Cooperation. We hope that those of our western colleagues who still have doubts about it will lift their objections and will not prevent Ukrainians from starting to agree."
    Pro-Moscow separatists seized government offices in more Ukrainian towns on Wednesday, a further sign authorities in Kiev are losing control of the country's eastern industrial heartland bordering Russia.
    The unrest in the east follows months of anti-government protests and Russia's annexation of the Crimea region, which had already pushed Ukraine's economy to the brink of bankruptcy and a likely economic contraction this year.
    Kiev is also in a dispute with Moscow over the price it will pay for natural gas exports in the future, and over about $2.2 billion Russia says it is owed for prior gas purchases.
    Ukraine's economy may further suffer if sanctions intensify on Russia, a key export market. Western nations have placed visa bans and asset freezes on Russian individuals and companies over what they see as meddling in Ukraine.
    Attempts to contain the insurgency by the government in Kiev have proved largely unsuccessful, with security forces repeatedly outmanoeuvred by the separatists. The West and the new Ukrainian government accuse Russia of being behind the unrest, a charge Moscow denies.
    Wednesday's takeovers followed the fall of the main government buildings on Tuesday further east in Luhansk, capital of Ukraine's easternmost province, driving home just how far control over the densely populated region has slipped from the central government in Kiev.
    Ukraine, a country of 45 million people the size of France, has a thousand-year history as a state but has spent much of the last few centuries under the shadow of its larger neighbour, Russia. It emerged as a modern independent nation after the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, with borders drawn up by Bolshevik commissars from territory previously ruled by Russia, Poland and Austria.
    Its current crisis erupted after a pro-Russian president was toppled in February in a popular uprising. Within days, Putin had declared the right to use military force and dispatched his undercover troops to seize Crimea.
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