Updated on 01:13 p.m. Moscow Time
MOSCOW, September 4 (RIA Novosti) – Russia supports the Council of Europe's drive to investigate the events in Ukraine that have happened after February 2014, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday.
“I know your position and we support it. It includes the necessity of holding an investigation to the end, and an investigation is needed in all incidents that happened in the period after February,” Lavrov said during a meeting with Council of Europe's Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland.
At a meeting with the Russian foreign minister, Jagland acknowledged that human rights violations in Ukraine pose a challenge to Strasbourg.
Ukraine’s southeastern regions have never recognized the legitimacy of the country's new authorities that took power after a February 22 coup.
Since mid-April, Kiev has been conducting a military operation against the independence supporters and according to the United Nations, the conflict has already claimed lives of almost 2,600 civilians.
Both the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are suffering from a humanitarian catastrophe due to constant shelling and a lack of basic supplies.
Moscow sees the operation as punitive and has repeatedly urged the Ukrainian government to put an end to the bloodshed.