Ukraine crisis: UK warns Moscow, Russian FM Lavrov says meeting with Kiev on agenda

Even as the UK has asked Russia it needs to choose if it was open to "diplomacy and de-escalation", Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said Russia is still planning to meet with Ukrainian officials at an international conference in Geneva on Thursday.

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko speaks in Kiev, Ukraine, on Tuesday, April 15, 2014. AP









Reports quoted UK Foreign Secretary William Hague as warning Russia of serious long-term consequences if it continues to destabilise Ukraine, threatening Moscow with international isolation and lasting economic damage through a reduction in foreign investment.

A Ukrainian guards a check-point near Barvinkove, eastern Ukraine. AP

Meanwhile, a day after Ukraine's first military action against a pro-Russian uprising in the east of the country, Lavrov said at a press briefing with his Vietnamese counterpart that the Geneva talks "remain on the agenda."

Pro-Russian people walk towards the airport in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, April 15, 2014. AP

Russia has repeatedly threatened to disrupt the talks if the Ukrainian government uses military force against pro-Russian militants in the east of the country, AP adds. Since Ukraine's Russia-leaning President Viktor Yanukovych fled in February following months of protest, Russia has pushed for the Kiev government to change the constitution and decentralize the government. Ukraine on verge of civil war: Putin Meanwhile, Kremlin has said the escalation of conflict in Ukraine has brought the country to the verge of civil war. Russian President Vladimir Putin during a telephonic conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel late Tuesday night warned of the possibility of civil war, the Kremlin press service said on Wednesday.

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