If NATO is using the situation in Ukraine to "beef up its own muscles," it is a “detrimental” policy, said Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the UN and current president of the Security Council, urging a peaceful solution to the crisis.
Obama pledges $1bn for more troops, military drills in Eastern Europe
Churkin warned against attempts to “take advantage of the
dramatic situation in Ukraine” at a press conference on Tuesday, when he was
asked whether he believed Obama’s visit to Europe could help
resolve the crisis or make it worse.
“You know, I used to be Liaison Ambassador to NATO a while
ago and I keep following [it],” Churkin said. “From time
to time they try to take advantage of certain situations in order
to get jump-started. They keep looking for some kind of a new
mission to perform. So if this crisis is used for that purpose, I
think that is going to be detrimental for overall international
interaction.”
Trying to resolve the situation in Ukraine by force is “the
easiest thing,” according to Churkin, who criticized those
members of the UN Security Council who endorsed the military
operation in eastern Ukraine.
“Some members of the council seem to believe that the
situation there can be settled by force, in fact encourage Kiev
to continue their punitive operation in eastern parts of
Ukraine,” Churkin said. “We believe it’s a grave mistake
and we believe the Security Council with its responsibility for
international peace and security should seek peaceful solutions
to any issue, which it might come in contact with.”
Kiev has lately intensified its military campaign in heavily
populated areas of eastern Ukraine, Churkin reminded, adding that
further escalation could lead to situation turning “extremely
dramatic.”
Kiev's ‘indiscriminate shelling of residential
areas’ must be stopped – Russia
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
confirmed on Tuesday that a fatal explosion
at an administrative building in eastern Ukrainian city of
Lugansk was from an airstrike. Kiev has so far denied the
responsibility for the incident, although it admitted showering
the same city with 150 missiles from the air in a military action
on Monday.
The UN children’s rights body raised the alarm on Monday over
seven children injured since Kiev intensified its
military operation in the east of Ukraine a month ago, as
residential areas have increasingly come under fire.
In the most recent incident on Tuesday a hospital, a school and a
train station got shelled in the village of Krasny Liman, near
the city of Slavyansk, where some of the heaviest fighting takes
place. Locals say the attack resulted in casualties.