Moscow outraged with Ukraine's decision to close its eastern borders

Moscow is outraged with Kiev's decision to close the borders with Russia in eastern Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "The reaction of Ukrainian border guards and especially the visit of Mr. Turchynov [acting Ukrainian President, Verkhovna Rada Speaker Aleksander Turchynov], who intends to virtually close borders between Russia and Ukraine, is outrageous. Instead of opening these borders for everyone willing to leave the area of military actions, these borders are closed. This is absolutely outrageous and unacceptable," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said at a briefing in Moscow.
According to Russian Foreigh Ministry, disarming militia fighters in east Ukraine is not the first priority. "What they should be doing now is not treating symptoms or knocking down the temperature but looking for the origins of the conflict, which are fairly obvious, and deal with them. Then it will be easier to disarm the armed groups that are seeking to defend the interests of the ethnic Russian and Russian-speaking population in southeast Ukraine. The population that is being subjected to barbaric attacks, airstrikes," Ryabkov said in an interview with Interfax.

"So disarming the militiamen is not the first priority," the deputy minister said. "Kiev must stop the punitive operation and begin the real process of settling the crisis, involving, among other things, the release of political prisoners and the launch of a political dialogue in accordance with the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) roadmap," Ryabkov said.

Moscow flatly denies Kiev's claims that Russia has lately been shipping truckloads of weapons to Ukraine. "These unfounded allegations on Ukraine's part that trucks with weapons are crossing the border and so on - all this is the work of the devil," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said at a news conference in Moscow on Thursday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has no information on Ukrainian President-elect Petro Poroshenko's plans to visit Moscow anytime soon. "This is perhaps a question for the elected president of Ukraine rather than for the Russian side. I haven't heard about this," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told journalists in Moscow on Thursday.

Russiaa also demands punishment for the people who are responsible for the bombing of the building of the Luhansk region's administration, Russian Foreign Ministry official Alexander Lukashevich said. "We are outraged by the bombing by the Ukrainian Air Force of the building of the Luhansk region's administration and we demand punishment for the people responsible for this tragedy. We are addressing this issue in today's meeting of the OSCE permanent council," Lukashevich told reporters in Moscow on Thursday. "We are extremely concerned about the continuing military operation conducted by the army in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in which many people have been wounded and killed," he said.
[voiceofrussia.com]5/6/14
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