Top Russian diplomat says current violence in Ukraine “unacceptable”

(Interfax – Moscow, January 27, 2014) Actions of Ukrainian “fighters for human rights”, who are throwing Molotov cocktails at representatives of the authorities and beating up other citizens, are unacceptable and should receive a corresponding assessment of international organizations, Russian Foreign Ministry’s ombudsman for human rights, democracy and rule of law Konstantin Dolgov has said.

“To fight for human rights by throwing Molotov cocktails at representatives of the law-enforcement bodies, by violently seizing administrative buildings, by beating up co-citizens, by outrageous behaviour in streets of their own cities. If this is a method of protecting human rights, then this method should be assessed by the international community and human rights organizations accordingly,” he said at a briefing on Monday [27 January].

“Such a method is absolutely unacceptable,” the diplomat said.

He recalled that protests in the West, in particular the Occupy Wall Street ! movement, were harshly suppressed by the police.

“When criticism was expressed, including on our part, over an unproportionate use of force, they told us: ‘We are imposing law and order, we are acting in the interests of the absolute majority of population of our countries’,” Dolgov said.

“Why is there a different approach to the developments in Ukraine on the part of some of our Western partners, on the part of a significant number of international mass media? Why is this country worse than other European states?” he added.

Dolgov also said that the statements by some representatives of the Western countries, who in their speech in Maydan [square] urged actions that ‘could lead to bloodshed’, can hardly be considered as protection of human rights.