Russia blames Ukraine for Kiev violence; urges West for support

Russia blamed the Ukrainian authorities on Monday for a surge in violence in southeastern Ukraine and urged the West not to show its support for Kiev with actions such as imposing new sanctions on Moscow.

"We see attempts to derail the peace process and attempts again and again by the Kiev leadership to solve the problem by using force to suppress the southeast. These attempts lead nowhere," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference.