President Obama
US secretary of state says Russia
sent "agents" to destabilise Ukraine, as pro-Russians seize offices
in eastern cities. The US secretary of state, John Kerry, has bluntly blamed
Russia of "unmistakable involvement in destabilising" Ukraine by
sending "agents" to its eastern cities.
Kerry on told US Congress on Tuesday
that the Kremlin was seeking to "create chaos" in Donetsk, Kharkiv
and Luhansk as a pretext for more military intervention. "Everything that
we've seen in the last 48 hours, from Russian provocateurs and agents operating
in eastern Ukraine, tells us that they've been sent there determined to create
chaos," Kerry said, adding that he would next week meet his Russian
counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to discuss the crisis.
Shortly after Kerry's comments,
Ukraine's SBU state security service said pro-Russian activists had placed
explosives in a seized government office in Luhansk, and were holding about 60
people hostage.
"These actions are extremely
dangerous and endanger the lives of people both inside and outside of the
building. They are using terrorist measures," and SBU statement said.
Luhansk pro-Russian protesters
quickly denied the claims.
"There are no explosives, no
hostages. We do not need hostages to get what we want," said Anton, one of
the protesters who described himself as a coordinator of the action.
In recent days pro-Russian activists
seized government buildings in several cities in Ukraine's east, declaring
independence and vowing to vote on splitting from Ukraine.
Ukrainian police cleared protesters
from a regional administration building in Kharkiv in a lightning nighttime
operation on Monday, but others held out in the eastern cities Luhansk and
Donetsk.
Russian efforts
Lavrov and Catherine Ashton, the
European Union foreign policy chief, on Tuesday discussed possible
international efforts to find a solution to the Ukraine crisis, the Russian
foreign ministery said in a statement.
In a telephone conversation initiated
by Ashton, Lavrov reaffirmed Russia's proposal for "an authentic
Ukraine-wide dialogue involving all political forces and regions" aimed at
reaching agreement on constitutional reforms, the statement said.
Russia has long been suggesting
"federalisation" of Ukraine in order to give more autonomy to the
regions of the country, claiming it would make sure ethnic Russian population
were not marginalised by Kiev's central government.
Ukrainian government sees the Russian
plan as an effort to break up the country.
Source: Reuters
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