MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti) – People rallying in the southeastern Ukrainian cities of Donetsk and Slaviansk are not separatists or terrorists, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Gazeta.ru Tuesday.
“I can’t describe Slaviansk and Donetsk protesters as separatists,” Ryabkov said in an interview with the online newspaper Gazeta.ru.
“These are people who demand that their ultimate rights be protected and respected in all spheres, including language, access to information, as well as the representation of their rights and the economic rights of their regions during nationwide discussions,” the diplomat stressed.
The Russian foreign ministry official said it was wrong to compare demonstrators to illegal gunmen in the Russian republic of Chechnya.
“Those who fought against our troops in Chechnya were people vying for the territory’s secession. And they didn’t just say they wanted [to secede], but they used terrorist methods to that end,” he pointed out.
Ryabkov reminded reporters of the bloodbath that occurred across Russia at the peak of the Chechen terror campaign in the 1990s and 2000s, when scores of innocent civilians were brutally slaughtered.
“There can’t be any parallels drawn between these events. Terrorist groups in Chechnya and the rallying people who posed for photos with the ‘polite people’ have nothing in common,” the minister added.
The comments came in response to an anti-Russian media campaign in the West that has adopted the word “separatists” for Ukrainian protesters, as well as to claims of the coup-imposed Ukrainian authorities who have launched an “anti-terrorist” operation against the restive areas in the country’s east.
Federalization supporters in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Gorlovka, Slaviansk and Kramatorsk have refused to recognize the legitimacy of the coup-imposed Ukrainian government. In response, Ukraine’s interim authorities launched a special operation to crack down on the protests. Moscow has denounced Kiev’s actions.
