Russia will insist Kiev leaders give up use of force - Lavrov

HANOI, April 16 (Itar-Tass) - Russia will insist the Kiev authorities respect the demands of south-eastern Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. “We will insist the authorities in Kiev should not use the army, because Ukrainian legislation prohibits this,” Lavrov said after talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh on Wednesday. “In recent days President [Vladimir] Putin has held substantial telephone conversations with foreign leaders, including the U.S. president [Barack Obama] and the German Chancellor [Angela Merkel] and explained that the attempts made by those who seized power in Kiev in an unconstitutional way and used force against protesters are unacceptable,” he said. “We will insist on de-escalation. The Kiev authorities must immediately start talks to defuse tensions,” Lavrov said. Learn more on itar-tass.com