Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he urged NATO to confirm the stance declared in February on unacceptability of using army to resolve domestic issues of Ukraine. "In the midst of the events on Maidan the NATO secretary general and NATO defense minister said that interference of the Ukrainian armed forces in the political process is unacceptable and insisted that army should be neutral," Lavrov said at a news conference in Vienna on May 6.
“This was in February. I asked our colleagues from NATO countries today whether countries of the Alliance and NATO secretary general can confirm the same appeal – not to use the army, not to engage the army in the political process and not to allow army breaking its neutral status within its own country,” Lavrov said.
This should be the first step to resolve the situation in Ukraine, the minister said.
