AFP, Kiev :
Russia on Monday accused Ukraine of flouting an international accord meant to diffuse the crisis over its separatist east, as US Vice President Joe Biden was to about to arrive in Kiev in a show of support for its pro-Western leaders.
“The Geneva accord is not only not being fulfilled, but steps are being taken, primarily by those who seized power in Kiev, that are grossly breaching the agreements reached,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a Moscow press conference.
He was retaliating to charges from Washington that Moscow is dragging its feet on implementation of the accord hammered out last Thursday in Geneva between Russia, Ukraine, the United States and the European Union.
The pact has been badly undermined by a deadly weekend shootout in Ukraine’s restive east on Sunday, and an obstinate refusal to stand down by pro-Kremlin militants who have seized control of nearly a dozen towns in the region.
The accord calls for all “illegal armed groups” in Ukraine to surrender their weapons and halt the occupation of public buildings and other sites.
