© AFP Photo/Olga MaltsevaRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
If peace in Ukraine depended on Russia and most European countries, the chances for achieving it would be higher, the Russian Foreign Minister believes. However,
he is sure the US is pushing the Ukrainian leadership towards confrontation.
"We also have partners across the ocean - our American colleagues - who, according to a lot of evidence, still favor pushing the Ukrainian leadership towards the path of confrontation," Lavrov told Rossiya 1 channel's news show "Sergey Brilev's News on Saturday".
The minister argues one of the reasons behind the on-going violence in Ukraine is that
not all the military forces fighting self-defense squads in the country's south-east are under government control.
"Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko would like to ease tension and go on with the truce, but there are also
other forces among the Ukrainian authorities - there are radicals still controlling or very closely cooperating with armed ultra nationalists, there is the "Right Sector", the battalions of Igor Kolomoysky and other serious groups, who do not obey Ukraine's Central Command and the Commander-in-Chief," Lavrov said.
Poroshenko announced on Friday he was
extending the week-long cease-fire for another three days, which was about to come to an end. During the cease-fire sporadic fighting still continued throughout southeastern Ukrainian with both sides of the conflict blaming each other for outbreaks of violence.
Speaking to journalists in Brussels,
the Ukrainian president accused Russia of doing nothing to help bring peace back to the country.
Comment: If Russia were Israel, it would've already launched a dozen or more airstrikes in Ukraine as retaliation, with nary a word of condemnation from Western states. Yet, in reality, can you imagine the vitriol that would be spewed by Western media and politicians if Russia were to engage Ukraine with their military force? For reference, see: Goliath strikes back: Israel stages 12 air strikes on Gaza after rocket fire