HANOI. April 16 (Interfax) - Moscow will continue to insist on the incumbent Kyiv authorities' respect for popular demands made in southeastern Ukraine, the launch of negotiations and the end to the military operation against the protesters, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"We will seek tranquility and insist on the respect of Kyiv leaders for the opinions and demands of the southeast and Ukrainian citizens who live there, as well as on negotiations aimed to de-escalate the situation rather than escalate it with the involvement of law enforcement authorities, moreover, the army, which is clearly prohibited by Ukrainian laws," Lavrov told a press conference in Hanoi on Wednesday following negotiations with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh.
Lavrov expressed the hope "the ongoing efforts, including those taken by the Russian administration, would bear fruit and any use of force against the protesters would stop."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has held telephone conversations with a number of foreign leaders, among them the U.S. president and the German federal chancellor, in the past few days to give detailed and concrete explanations why the attempt of the incumbent Kyiv authorities to use force against the protesters was impermissible, Lavrov said.
The Verkhovna Rada passed on February 20 a resolution "On the Condemnation of Violence, Which Led to Human Casualties", deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook earlier. "Let me cite Item 2 first: "The Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers, the Ukrainian Security Service, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and subordinated military and paramilitary units must immediately stop the use of force and prevent the use of force in the future. Prohibit the use of any types of weapons and special means against protesters," Zakharova wrote.
"The new operation against one's own people is starting in Ukraine without a vote by the Verkhovna Rada and by the decision of the same persons who banned a counter-terrorism operation in February," she noted.