Russia Urges Kiev to Immediately Halt Violence

Russia respects the will of the Ukrainian people expressed in Sunday’s presidential election, but urges Kiev to fulfill all its commitments under the Geneva agreements to halt violence in the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.

“The election was held. We respect the results of the Ukrainian voters’ will, but believes that it is absolutely necessary and without any delay to fulfill the agreements reached in the framework of Geneva declaration of April 17, and to stop violence,” Lavrov said.

The Russian foreign minister added that Moscow was concerned not only by the fact that the election was held regardless of ongoing military actions, but by president-elect Petro Poroshenko’s statement calling for their intensification immediately after the voting process.

“Task number one and probably a test for the endurance of Kiev’s authorities, taking into account the results of the election, is to immediately halt military actions against civilians, and stop any kind of violence by all parties,” Lavrov said after a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu.

Ukrainian troops have resumed the Kiev authorities' special operation in the east of the country, which had been suspended for Sunday’s presidential election, acting Deputy Prime Minister Vitaliy Yarema said Tuesday. After claiming victory in the election, Poroshenko said the special operation in eastern Ukraine should continue and become more effective.

The statement came as Lavrov warned Monday the resumption of the special operation in eastern Ukraine would be a tremendous mistake. He expressed hope that Poroshenko, as Ukraine’s new president, would do his best to prevent extremist and radical views from becoming widespread.

On April 17, top diplomats from Russia, Ukraine, the EU and the US met in Geneva to agree on a number of conditions that urged the coup-imposed regime and its opposition in Ukraine to refrain from violence, extremism and provocations, to disarm militants and launch a national dialog on constitutional reform. Despite the agreement, Kiev launched a special operation in mid-April to crack down on pro-federalization protests.