MOSCOW, March 25 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed allegations Tuesday that Moscow is threatening nuclear sites in Ukraine as an attempt to redirect blame for ongoing instability in the country away from the new Ukrainian government.
Ukraine's representative at a nuclear security summit in The Hague, attended by leaders and senior officials from 53 countries, accused Russia of threatening the security of nuclear reactors in Ukraine and called on the world to protect them.
"The current situation in Ukraine with regard to the safety of Ukrainian atomic facilities may be due to the incapacity of the ‘new Kiev government,' but not Russia," the ministry said Tuesday in remarks on the results of the summit.
The ministry said Russia continues to fulfill its obligations to Ukraine by supplying nuclear fuel and helping to maintain nuclear security in the country, where 15 nuclear power reactors are currently in operation, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency's website.
Leaders of the anti-government protests earlier this year on Kiev's Independence Square, known as Maidan, have threatened to blow up gas pipelines running through Ukrainian territory and called for cooperation with professional international terrorists, the ministry's statement said.
The ministry condemned a proposal voiced by the Ukrainian Batkivshchyna and UDAR parties this week to withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons technology.
"The NPT faces a serious threat. I regret that other signatories of the treaty pretend not to notice the danger," the Russian Foreign Ministry said, adding that Moscow hopes the extremist line in Ukraine's policy is rejected by cooler heads in the foreign policy community.
The ministry said Ukraine had changed the agenda of the international forum to accuse Russia of violating the country's territorial integrity. "We strongly reject this," the statement said.
Russia does not recognize the new government in Ukraine, which took power as a result of a coup. "The upheaval dealt a blow to Ukrainian sovereignty. The Autonomic Crimean Republic could no longer stay part of Ukraine and proclaimed its independence in full compliance with the UN Charter," the ministry said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree last week finalizing the reunification of Crimea, formerly an autonomous republic within Ukraine, following a referendum in which residents voted overwhelmingly to rejoin Russia.
