Donetsk, April 15 (RIA Novosti) - The representative of pro-federalization protesters in Ukraine's Slaviansk denied reports of armed clashes near the city, talking to RIA Novosti Tuesday.
“According to our current information, everything is calm around Slaviansk. No clashes yet. In Andreevka our post is the weakest, there’s an old man and a few 16 -year-old boys. There's just nobody to clash with over there. We phoned them, and they reported everything was quiet,” said the assistant to Vyacheslav Ponomarev, the leader of the self-defense group in Slaviansk. Locals also say that “everything is quiet.”
Some media outlets reported clashes in the area of self-defense posts, particularly in Andreevka, citing a local activist.
On February 22 Ukraine saw a change of power resembling a coup. The Verkhovna Rada backed by far-right movements ousted the acting President Viktor Yanukovych, amended the constitution and scheduled an early presidential election for May 25. Moscow seriously questions the legitimacy of Rada’s decision.
The rallies of pro-federalization activists started in March in the East of Ukraine, with protesters in Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv calling for a referendum on the status of their respective regions. On Saturday, the protests spread to a few more cities of Donetsk region – Slaviansk, Mariupol, Yenakievo, Kramatorsk and a number of small towns, where protesters seized some of the administrative buildings.
Following these developments Ukraine’s acting President Oleksander Turchynov announced the launch of a “full-scale anti-terrorist operation,” to include army units, against pro-federalization protesters.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the interim government’s decision to use force, including military crackdown, against the protesters an extremely dangerous development.
