MOSCOW, May 14 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Wednesday for an explanation as to why the Kiev authorities used a helicopter with UN signage during special operations in southeastern Ukraine.
“We certainly want to understand how it happened that the UN logo painted helicopters were used against the protesters in the East and the South. The United Nations already expressed its very deep concern,” Lavrov said during an English-language interview with Bloomberg.
Lavrov explained that violence “on all the sides, not just the East and the South” needs to stop before any national political dialog is launched.
“You cannot sit down to talk with people, as you continue to shell them from artillery, from mortars, fighter planes, helicopters,” the Russian foreign minister said, adding that national dialogue is impossible if authorities keep “fighting demonstrators that disagree with your local government.”
Earlier it was revealed that the Ukrainian military used helicopters with UN signage during operations to quash protests in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk Republic. The helicopters were apparently earlier used in peacekeeping operations in Congo.
The United Nations is currently discussing the incident with Ukrainian authorities.
