'Anti-terrorist' operation launched against pro-Russian separatists

Russia warned Kiev on Tuesday that any use of force in Ukraine's east, where pro-Kremlin militants have seized government buildings in several cities, could tip the country into civil war.

"We call for the immediate cessation of any military preparations, which are fraught with the risk of unleashing civil war," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The warning came as Ukrainian authorities released details of an "anti-terrorist" operation in the eastern city of Kharkiv that was aimed at capturing pro-Russian activists who had occupied a public building there.

Police detained 70 people occupying a regional administrative building on Monday night, bringing the building under government control.

Ukrainian special forces in combat gear, helmets and balaclavas and carrying kalashnikovs and machine guns stood guard early on Tuesday outside the building, whose outside windows were broken.

A partly destroyed sign near the main door read, "Avakov - to jail", a reference to Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.

On Sunday, pro-Russia protesters seized state buildings in the eastern cities of Kharkiv, Lugansk and Donetsk, where they also declared independence and vowed to hold a referendum on joining Russia.

Kiev accused Russia of fomenting the unrest, and Washington warned the Kremlin to stop efforts to "destabilize Ukraine", accusations that Moscow brushed off.

Kiev described the latest unrest as a replay of events in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed last month after a referendum there.

Forces deployed

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday it had information that Ukraine was sending internal security forces and volunteers from its National Guard, including fighters from the Pravy Sektor (Right Sector) ultra-nationalist group, to southeastern Ukraine, including Donetsk.

It also alleged that Ukraine was deploying US private security operatives dressed as Ukrainian special forces. It said the mercenaries came from the Greystone Ltd security firm.

It said Ukraine had tasked the forces with "suppression using force" of the residents in the southeast of the country who oppose the policies of the government in Kiev.

"The organizers and participants in this provocation are taking on a huge responsibility for creating a threat to the rights, freedoms and lives of peaceful Ukrainian citizens and to the stability of the Ukrainian state," the Russian ministry warned.

'Anti-Ukrainian plan'

Kiev insisted that the unrest in the east was part of a wider plan on the part of Moscow to divide Ukraine and seize territory.

"An anti-Ukrainian plan is being put into operation ... under which foreign troops will cross the border and seize the territory of the country," Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said in public remarks to his cabinet. "We will not allow this."

Ukraine's Interior Ministry was quoted by Interfax-Ukraine news agency as saying those detained were suspected of "illegal activity related to separatism, the organization of mass disorder, damage to human health" and breaking other laws.

However, there were signs that Kiev's security operation in the east might not seek immediately to regain all those buildings captured on Sunday.

Russia's Itar-Tass news agency quoted Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Yarema as saying there would be no storming of the regional authority building in Donetsk on Tuesday.

He said the decision was made after talks in Donetsk with the protesters involving influential and wealthy businessman Rinat Akhmetov, who is from the city.

On Tuesday, about 200 people were gathered in front of the building and a group of National Guard troops were stood to one side. But the situation was calm and there was no sign of any attempt to enter by force.

'Respectful attitude'

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Deshchytsya met for talks late on Monday.

After the talks, Lavrov stressed the "necessity of a respectful attitude to the aspirations of the inhabitants of southeastern Ukraine."

Lavrov said Kiev must not allow "attempts to react by force to their legal demands for their linguistic, cultural and social-economic rights".

Lavrov called for Kiev to take "urgent measures" to organize a national dialogue, saying it was ready to "support this process along with the European Union and the United States".

AFP-Reuters