Lavrov slams condemnation of Ukraine's excessive force against protesters

2013-12-04 10

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held bilateral talks on Wednesday, on the sidelines of a two-day NATO summit in Brussels.

Lavrov said he doesn’t agree with NATO condemning the use of excessive force by Ukraine authorities against protesters. He said that outsiders should not interfere in the situation.

“That is a completely wrong interpretation of what is happening. Our position is that this is an internal matter for Ukraine. I do not understand the scale of the fairly aggressive actions of the opposition. The president of the Russian Federation, President Putin, has already spoken on this issue,” said Lavrov.

Meanwhile Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovytch is on a state visit to China. Ukraine has already received loans worth seven billion euros from China which perhaps explains his journey there. He is scheduled to sign economic and trade agreements.