Ukrainian Military Targeting Residential Areas, Europe Prefers Not to Notice, Says Putin

YAKUTSK – The Ukrainian military is purposely firing at residential areas but Europe prefers not to notice, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday.

“The [actions of the militia in eastern Ukraine] are apparent because Ukraine’s regular units have encircled large populated areas and are firing at residential quarters on purpose,” Putin said.

“And this, unfortunately, in many countries including Europe is preferred to not be noticed,” Putin added.

The Russian president arrived Monday in the city of Yakutsk to participate in a discussion about Russian Far East matters and to attend the launch of the Power of Siberia gas pipeline construction. The meeting will be attended by the heads of federal ministries, regions and major companies.

Since mid-April, the Ukrainian government has been conducting a military operation in eastern Ukraine, attempting to suppress independence supporters who refused to acknowledge the newly instated authorities following a February 22 coup.

Moscow has repeatedly condemned the military operation and urged a peaceful resolution of the conflict. To help the civilian population, Russia sent a humanitarian convoy to the troubled regions of Ukraine with about 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid under the auspices of the Red Cross, with the intention to send more.

No one exempting Russia from G8, partners ‘skipped’ summit in Sochi, saysLavrov

On the other hand in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday no one exempted Russia from the Group of Eight, and that its members simply did not attend the group’s summit in Sochi.

“No one has exempted us from anything, it’s just that our partners didn’t come to the summit. The G8 is not the type of structure that you can be run out of. There are no processional mechanisms for that. It’s just a club where people gather to discuss issues that reflect mutual interest,” Lavrov said.

The minister said that the group’s participants “just skipped the event.”

“I would not say that we felt a tremendous loss,” he added.

G8 is an important club, the significance of which has been mostly defined by the prestige of being next to the US and European leaders lately, he said, adding that “the G8 agenda has lost its significance after the creation of G20.”

Russia joined the Group of Seven leading industrial nations in 2008 and was supposed to host G8 summit in Sochi on June 4-5, 2014. Late March, during a nuclear security meeting in the Hague leaders of the seven world powers decided to suspend the G8 and refused to attend the Sochi summit because of Crimea’s reunification with Russia and Moscow’s stance toward the situation in Ukraine.

In June, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was not considering a return to the G8, as “there is no such format at the moment.” He noted, however, that Russia was open for cooperation, “if our partners send certain signals.” He also said that despite the suspension of the G8, Russia would continue to participate in the work of the G20.

Relations between Russia and the West have been strained over the ongoing political crisis in Ukraine, where a regime change resembling a military coup took place late February. After the ouster of President Victor Yanukovych, citizens of Ukraine’s former republic of Crimea held a referendum where the majority of population voted for reunification with Russia.

In response to the move, a number of Western countries imposed sanctions on Russian officials and entities and refused to attend several international events held in Russia.

RIA Novosti

R.S