Moscow - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, called on the United States to put pressure on the Ukrainian government to prevent bloodshed in southeastern Ukraine.
The conversation focused on “the situation in southeastern Ukraine, where extremist militants are continuing their provocations,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“Lavrov emphasized that the inability and unwillingness of the Kyiv authorities to put an end to violence on the part of Right Sector and other ultranationalists that has already resulted in fatalities, to stop arrests, and to release activists of the protest movements in the southeastern regions jeopardize the fulfillment of the provisions of the April 17 Geneva Statement by Russia, the United States, the European Union, and Ukraine. The minister urged the secretary of state to put pressure on Kyiv in order to prevent hotheads there from provoking a bloody conflict and make the current Ukrainian leadership to strictly comply with its commitments, which would make it possible to begin de-escalation of the situation,” the ministry said.
Lavrov “specially stressed the need for the earliest possible pan-national dialogue, including the launch of a constitutional reform with full-scale participation by all principal political forces and all regions of the country.”
Lavrov and Kerry came to an agreement to remain in contact on Ukrainian affairs, the statement said.
