Moscow is outraged by the armed incident that occurred Saturday night in Slovyansk in which innocent civilians died as a result of an attack by Right Sector militants, the Russian Foreign Ministry says.
“The Russian side is enraged by the militant provocation which is an indication of the reluctance of the authorities in Kyiv to bridle and disarm nationalists and extremists,” a ministry statement says.
“It is surprising that the tragedy occurred after the signing in Geneva on April 17 of the final statement of the four-sided meeting of representatives of Russia, the USA, EU and Ukraine which calls for refraining from any violent actions, intimidation or provocations. The Russian side insists on the strict fulfillment by the Ukrainian side of its commitments concerning the de-escalation the situation in southeast Ukraine,” the ministry says.
“The Eastern ceasefire was violated in Sloviansk on April 20. As a result of an armed attack by the so-called Right Sector innocent civilians died. Local residents seized the vehicles of the attackers in which they discovered arms, aerial maps of the area and Right Sector paraphernalia,” the statement says.
Earlier the Ukrainian Interior Ministry reported that there had been an armed clash between two groups of individuals at a roadblock near Sloviansk outside the village of Bylbasivka in the Donetsk region in the early hours of Sunday.
The clash occurred at about 3 a.m. Three activists of the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic” were killed and three others wounded. Casualties on the assailants’ side are not known, the Donetsk regional police department reported on Monday.
Previously Russia 24 channel reported that five people were killed and one more wounded in Sloviansk as a result of an attack on a roadblock.
“Three residents of Sloviansk were killed last night by indentified attackers at a roadblock in the north of the town. One more was taken to hospital in serious condition,” a posting on vesti.ru Web site said.
The TV channel reports that self-defense forces succeeded in seizing two cars in which they discovered Right Sector paraphernalia and big quantities of arms, including those not adopted by the Ukrainian army – explosives, smoke pellets and U.S.-made night vision aids. Aerial maps were also discovered.
The attackers are being identified.
