Lavrov urges US to moderate 'party of war' in Kiev

MOSCOW - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that it is necessary to moderate the "party of war" in Kiev and "in reality only the US can do this."

"It would be very important for the US to use its influence and give necessary signals" to pull Ukraine away from its military attempts and put it on a political track to solve the crisis, the Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying at a briefing.

Noting that the Ukrainian parliament has been discussing whether to repeal Ukraine's non-aligned status, Lavrov said that indicated that a "party of war" was taking steps to undermine the search for a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis.

"That initiative came right after agreements were reached at the Minsk meeting last Tuesday to find a generally acceptable solution to the crisis in the framework of the contact group," Lavrov said.

"The party of peace tried and is still trying to put forward a negotiating and political solution to all main issues that Ukrainians face. At the same time, however, the party of war is taking steps clearly aimed at disrupting those efforts," he added.