Interfax: Lavrov warns Kyiv against using force in southeast Ukraine

MOSCOW. April 14 (Interfax) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has renewed his calls on the Ukrainian authorities to refrain from using force against demonstrators in the country’s southeast.

“If the current rulers in Kyiv decide to use force against demonstrators in the southeast, then our cooperation will be undermined, there is no doubt about that,” he said on Monday, while opening a meeting with members of the global coordination council of Russian compatriots on Monday.

Russia, the European Union, the United States and Ukraine are currently discussing the possibility of holding a four-party meeting aimed at helping settle the Ukrainian crisis, Lavrov recalled.

Overall, as far as international policy is concerned, a number of countries, primarily the U.S. and the EU “have not stopped their attempts to prove their exceptionalism, their right to be the stronger one,” he said. Often the steps being undertaken affect Russia’s interests, as was the case in the situation with Ukraine where “a coup was committed with overt backing of the U.S. and the EU,” he said.

Russia is calling for a broad national dialogue involving all the Ukrainian political forces and regions concerned, as well as for a constitutional reform and for giving Russian an official language status, Lavrov said. At the same time, “all these matters must be decided by Ukrainians themselves,” he said.

Also, Ukraine’s non-aligned status and its guarantee by international actors are of principled importance, the ministry said.