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 Paris and Berlin helped mediate a peace deal in the Belarussian
capital Minsk on Feb. 12 to try to end fighting between government
forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine but the truce
remains fragile.
In an interview with Russian television, Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov said he was concerned Kiev might stage "provocations"
to try to persuade the United States that it should aid Kiev by
sending it lethal weapons.
"Provocateurs in Kiev ... could try to 'whip something up' in the
expectation that this will influence the world public and weapons
will flow into Ukraine," he told the new program Vesti on Saturday
with Sergei Brilev.
"I am convinced that Berlin and Paris, as the most important players
..., should prevent such a turn of events."
 Lavrov also repeated Russia's opposition to United Nations
peacekeepers being sent to the east.
The United States has been considering whether to provide lethal
weapons to Ukraine but has taken no decision on this yet.
Kiev accuses Moscow of not carrying out the terms of the Minsk
agreements. It and the West say Russia backs the separatists in east
Ukraine with weapons and troops but Moscow denies this.
More than 6,000 people have been killed in almost one year of
fighting in the east. The truce there is fragile, with Moscow and
Kiev clashing publicly over who is to blame for the failure to carry
out all the steps outlined in the Minsk agreements.
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The European Union and the United States have imposed economic
sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis, which has caused the
worst strains in relations between the West and Moscow since the end
of the Cold War.
EU leaders decided on Thursday that the sanctions would stay in
place until the peace deal is fully implemented, effectively
extending them to the end of the year if need be.
(Reporting and writing by Katya Golubkova, Editing by Timothy
Heritage)
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