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Lavrov: Kiev Should Provide Materials, Witnesses for Investigations of Ukraine Tragedies

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Investigation into the tragedies in Odessa, Mariupol, Donetsk and Kiev cannot reveal the truth until the Kiev authorities provide access to materials and witnesses, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

MOSCOW, September 28 (RIA Novosti) - Investigation into the tragedies in Odessa, Mariupol, Donetsk and Kiev cannot reveal the truth until the Kiev authorities provide access to materials and witnesses, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"We will insist on the establishment of the truth in all these cases. We work hard and routinely to remind the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the human rights bodies of the United Nations about it. It seems that they recognize these requests and are willing to continue to put in some effort," the minister said in an interview with Rossiya-1 broadcaster and Russia Today TV channel.

According to Lavrov, "until the Ukrainian authorities do not ensure the independence, openness, and transparency of these investigations providing all necessary access to the materials, facts, and witnesses, nothing will happen."

The Russian Foreign Minister noted that "little has been done to find the perpetrators of sniper shooting on the Maidan, killing the so-called "heavenly hundred." There is a lot of suspicion, based on some facts, that this was a provocation staged by the Right Sector and (Andriy) Parubiy, commandant of the Maidan who has been spotted with the sniper rifles. All this has gone somewhere. The man who was appointed at the head of a commission of inquiry, stepped down, asked to resign, just explaining that he had received no official information from the current authorities of Kiev," Lavrov said.

After the violent seizure of power in Ukraine on February 22, Kiev appointed new authorities who announced interim results of the investigation "of the case of snipers." Responsibility for the death of more than 100 people was placed on Parubiy's political opponent, Viktor Yanukovych. It was then reported that some 17 people were killed during the shooting at Instytutskaya Street by the Berkut special division. Both Yanukovych and Berkut officers denied any involvement in the killings.

On September 23, a mass grave of civilians was found 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Donetsk. The civilians were killed execution-style. A senior Russian diplomat suggested Wednesday that there are grounds to believe that National Guard volunteer forces had previously controlled the area where the bodies were buried, which might prove their involvement.

Ukrainian authorities have denied the accusations, saying that not a single National Guard fighter has been in the area, adding however that some other Ukrainian units were deployed there at the time.

On May 2, clashes between anti-government protesters on one side, and Ukrainian football fans and Euromaidan activists on the other, broke out in Odessa. At least 46 people died, three went missing and 214 were injured, according to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry.

The government in Kiev has been accused by Odessa officials of covering up the actual death toll of at least 116.

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