Russia says Kiev 'breaking Geneva accord' on Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused the Kiev authorities of breaking last week's Geneva accord on resolving the Ukraine crisis.

He said the Kiev government - not recognised by Moscow - had not moved to disarm illegal groups, especially the ultra-nationalist Right Sector.

"Extremists are calling the tune," he alleged, condemning a fatal shooting near Sloviansk, in eastern Ukraine.

He also condemned the continuing Maidan street protests in Kiev.

He said it was "absolutely unacceptable" that the Ukrainian authorities had failed to end what he called the illegal protests in the capital.

However, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya said he was "surprised" Mr Lavrov did "not know what is being done in Ukraine regarding the Geneva agreements", Kiev-based news agency Unian reported.

The government had been having regular consultations with the parties to the agreement in an attempt to find "ways of de-escalating the situation in the east of Ukraine", Mr Deshchytsya was reported to have said.

'Crude violation'

Early on Sunday at least three people were killed in a shooting at a checkpoint manned by pro-Russian separatists near Sloviansk.

The circumstances remain unclear. The local separatists said the attack was carried out by Right Sector militants. Kiev called it a "provocation" staged by Russian special forces.

Mr Lavrov said the incident proved Kiev did not want to control "extremists".
There are conflicting reports about a fatal shooting near Sloviansk
Government buildings in eastern Ukraine, such as this one in Sloviansk, have been taken over by pro-Russian activists

He said that the most important demand of the Geneva deal was to "prevent any violence", and it was not being implemented.

"Steps are being taken - above all by those who seized power in Kiev - which crudely violate the accords reached in Geneva," Mr Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow.

The 17 April Geneva accord was agreed at talks between Russia, Ukraine, the EU and US. It demanded an immediate end to violence in eastern Ukraine and called on illegal armed groups to surrender their weapons and leave official buildings.

Credit to BBC