MOSCOW. April 21 (Interfax) - The Russian Presidential Human Rights Council fears that the crisis in Ukraine may erupt into a large-scale humanitarian catastrophe.
"The escalation of violence and illegality will only lead to a humanitarian catastrophe on a Europe-wide scale at the very least," the council said in a statement.
"The political crisis that is rapidly driving the multiethnic people of Ukraine toward a catastrophe and that was largely caused by a sharp deficit of the legitimacy of state institutions, both national and local, is taking on alarming forms and requires interference on the part of foreign humanitarian organizations," it said.
The Council called on the parties to the Ukrainian conflict "to refrain from using violence in resolving political issues, rule out the use of the army and law enforcement against the civilian population, stop arresting dissidents and release those who have already been held on political accusations."
"The media should stop escalating its war and civil conflict rhetoric, observe and protect the rights of national, religious and ethno cultural minorities, cooperate with international mediating missions, including the Council and its working group for monitoring human rights in Ukraine."
"The crisis can only be resolved through a national dialogue involving representatives of the civil society from all the regions and in cooperation with international organizations. Our Council is ready to provide all kinds of assistance in organizing such a dialogue," the statement said.
"We are convinced: it is the civil society, and not the military forces, that can take the country out of the crisis. The use of armed forces, the shutdown of television channels, the severing of the traditional Russian-Ukrainian ties, assaults on political opponents, and hampering the work of journalists and civil activists, including human-rights ones - all that is a movement away from the crisis resolution in the directly opposite direction," the document said.
The Council is an advisory body under the Russian president.