Ukraine crisis

MOSCOW - Moscow accused Kiev and the European Union (EU) of deliberate hindering the solution to Ukrainian crisis on Monday, particularly through hampering work of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission.

"It is just a pretext that (Ukraine's parliament, the Supreme Rada) has no time for ratifying the memorandum (about legal base of the OSCE monitoring mission)," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters following talks with his Slovakian counterpart Miroslav Lajcak.

"We more and more suspect something is behind that," the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

Lavron said Kiev might attempt, through delaying the document's ratification, to leave its hands free "for possible provocations," citing a recent detention of two Russian journalists.

Ukrainian troops detained two reporters of a Russian private TV channel near the town of Kramatorsk in the eastern rebellious Donetsk region on Sunday, accusing them of facilitating terrorism. Lavrov has called on the OSCE to assist their release.

The diplomat also said Russia has been outraged with what he called Kiev's "lie" about the tragedy happened in the Black Sea city of Odessa earlier this month, where dozens of people were burnt alive or shot during clashes.

"We are enraged with what has happened in Odessa and with how Ukraine's authorities attempt to lie about what caused the tragedy, to conceal the truth," he said.

Russia has already sent corresponding requests to organize an international investigation to the OSCE and the United Nations, Lavrov said.

"No one can avoid responsibility (for events in Odessa), neither Ukraine's authorities, nor those who cover them," he warned, adding that the EU also hindered solution of the crisis in Ukraine.

Sanctions imposed by the EU contradict modern realities in Europe and Ukraine, he noted.

In his turn, Lajcak said normalization of situation in Ukraine was impossible without Russia's active facilitation.

"It is possible and necessary to solve that situation by political means," he said.