PRESS RELEASE

Russian Foreign Ministry
Issues Statement on Ukraine

Feb. 24, 2014 (EIRNS)—This release was issued today by the Lyndon LaRouche Political Action Committee.

According to Russia Today, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the new regime in Kiev, Ukraine accusing it of using dictatorial and terrorist methods to suppress dissent in the country, with backing from the West which is acting out of geopolitical self-interest.

"The position of some of our Western partners doesn't show genuine concern, but a desire to act out of geopolitical self-interest," the statement on the ministry's website said. "There is no condemnation of criminal actions by extremists, including manifestations of neo-Nazism and anti-Semitism. In fact, these are being encouraged."

The statement went on to say that outside sponsors are advancing a regime change in the country, without a desire to find national consensus.

"We urge those embroiled in the crisis in Ukraine to show responsibility, and to prevent further deterioration of the situation, to return to the rule of law, and to stop the extremists in their bid for power."

The statement said "paramilitaries ... refuse to leave the cities, or abandon the administrative buildings they have occupied, while they continue to carry out acts of violence."

The statement says that the legitimacy of the Rada, which has passed dozens of laws for the past three days with a quorum of opposition deputies and defectors from Yanukovych's Party of Regions, is "questionable."

Moscow accuses the Ukrainian MPs of using revolutionary justifications for calls to virtually forbid the use of the Russian language entirely, encourage a lustration (political exclusion officials from the former regime from occupying official posts), liquidate parties, shut down certain media, and remove the limitations on neo-Nazi propaganda.

The Russian ministry has also condemned the May 25 election date, saying that according to the February 21 agreement, made before Viktor Yanukovych left Kiev, that any elections could only be staged after a constitutional reform. To ensure the success of the reform, any changes to the Constitution should be put to a national referendum.