Interfax: Ukraine must not use military, national guard to suppress protests – Lavrov

VIENNA. May 6 (Interfax) – A government order to stop using the Ukrainian Army and the National Guard to suppress protests should be the first step towards de-escalation in Ukraine, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

“As for de-escalation, I have already said that the first and obvious step is to cancel the order to use the army and the national guard for suppressing protests,” Lavrov told reporters on Tuesday.

In February, NATO defense ministers called on Ukraine to keep its army out of the political processes and observe its neutrality, the foreign minister recalled.

“It was when Viktor Yanukovych was a fully valid president. Now we are hearing claims, including from EU leaders, that the Ukrainian government has the full right to use the army for the so-called counter-terrorist operation, and that all this is justified because the state has the monopoly to use force,” Lavrov said.

These are two absolutely opposed statements, he said. “And in the event of the army having the order to fight against people, I think an obvious step which should start de-escalation is to cancel this order,” the foreign minister said.

As regards the presence of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine, numerous OSCE inspections visited their locations, and aircraft conducted overflights in those areas, but the international inspections were unable to conclude that Russia was engaged in “dangerous military activity,” he said.

“Our partners have requested another inspection. We have nothing to hide. Our army is at home and engaged in an activity not prohibited by anyone, which does not breach any legal and moral principles and fits into the framework of international agreements,” the Russian foreign minister said.