MOSCOW, July 8 (RIA Novosti) — Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko said during a press conference on Tuesday that Kiev’s decision to continue the punitive operation in eastern Ukraine was a “dead-end decision," with no plans on the Kiev side to end the fighting and enter a dialogue with independence supporters.
“Unfortunately, Kiev authorities decided to show they are tough guys who at any price, at the price of a punitive operation with the deaths of civilians to solve the political crisis. This is a dead-end decision, there is no way out," Matvienko said.
“Today it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the Ukrainian authorities had no intention of ending hostilities. Their actions demonstrate it," the speaker said, adding "there were no practical attempts to launch a real dialogue with the southeast."
Matvienko also said the West should have taken a firmer stance on the issue to force the Ukrainian military to lay down their weapons.
“Everything is permitted to the Kiev authorities, their patrons turn a blind eye to heinous crimes against the civilian population, when black is said to be white and white is said to be black. If our Western partners [and] the United States had categorically disapproved of the use of military force against civilians, as envisaged by all international documents, there would have been no events of this kind," Matvienko added.
The fighting between the Ukrainian Army and independence supporters in the southeast of the country has intensified after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced his decision not to extend the ceasefire on July 1.
Russia has repeatedly condemned Kiev’s actions and urged for a peaceful dialogue with representatives of Ukraine’s southeastern regions.
