Kremlin says it fears Ukraine could restart conflict in war-torn east
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 [March 31, 2021]
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said
on Wednesday it was concerned by mounting tensions in war-torn eastern
Ukraine and that it feared Kyiv's government forces could do something
to restart a conflict with pro-Russian separatists.
The comments came a day after Ukraine's commander-in-chief accused
Russia of a military buildup near their shared border and said that the
pro-Moscow separatists were systematically violating a ceasefire in
eastern Ukraine.
Kyiv and Moscow have blamed each other for a recent spate of violence in
the region. Around 14,000 people have been killed in the conflict since
it first erupted in 2014, Ukraine says.
"We express concern over the growing tension and express concern that
one way or another the Ukrainian side could take provocative actions
that would lead to war. We really don't want to see that," Kremlin
spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"I mean a civil war, which there already was there," Peskov said, when
asked to clarify on a conference call with reporters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin late on Tuesday accused Ukraine of
provoking armed confrontation with the separatists and of failing to
honour agreements over the region.
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A Ukrainian service member walks along fighting positions on the
contact line with Russian-backed separatist rebels near the town of
Avdiivka in Donetsk Region, Ukraine February 13, 2021. REUTERS/Oleksandr
Klymenko/File Photo
Speaking during a video conference with French President Emmanuel
Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Putin also urged Kyiv to
enter into direct dialogue with local separatist forces, the Kremlin
said late on Tuesday.
"The Russian side expressed serious concern over the escalation of
armed confrontation that is being provoked by Ukraine along the line
of contact and its effective refusal to implement the agreements of
July 2020 ... to strengthen the ceasefire regime," the Kremlin said.
Germany, Russia and France are part of the so-called "Normandy
format" that also includes Ukraine and that was set up in 2014 to
try to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
(Reporting by Tom Balmforth and Dmitry Antonov; editing by Shri
Navaratnam and Gareth Jones)
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