ST. PETERSBURG, April 24 (RIA Novosti) – The authorities in Ukraine should start dialogue within the country and not legalize radical organizations in order to settle the conflict in the country, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.
“We participated in the meeting in Geneva and signed definite agreements which include that both sides need to disarm their people, vacate administrative buildings, and so on,” Putin said.
“What’s happening? No ‘Right Sector’ or any other radical groups have been disarmed, no one in Kiev has vacated anything. It’s just the opposite, these groups are beginning to be legalized. And who’s doing the legalization?” the Russian leader said during a media event in St. Petersburg.
“You shouldn’t go on this path, you need to take the path of dialogue among all of the country’s residents wherever they are living,” Putin added.
In a bid to de-escalate the ongoing conflict, top diplomats from Russia, Ukraine, the United States and the European Union approved a statement on April 17 calling on the sides in Ukraine to refrain from violence, extremism and provocations, disarm militants and launch a national dialogue on constitutional reform.
In violation of the deal, a group of unknown gunmen, allegedly members of the Right Sector far-right group, killed at least three people in a deadly attack on a checkpoint near Slaviansk last week. The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed the attack as “provocation” that pointed to Kiev's reluctance to disarm nationalists and extremists.
The violent clashes between the Ukraine’s military forces and pro-federalization supporters continue in the eastern regions of the country as the special operation launched by Kiev’s interim government in a crackdown on protesters resumed this week. Earlier Thursday five people were reported killed in the city of Slaviansk.
Right Sector was an important force at the Euromaidan protests that began in November in Kiev and rose to power in the new Ukraine’s government. Right Sector fighters were notorious for using clubs, Molotov cocktails, and firearms against Ukrainian police during the protests, and for wearing Nazi-inspired insignia. Russia put the leader of Right Sector, Dmitry Yarosh, on an international wanted list and has charged him with inciting terrorism.
