Moscow warns Kiev over May 25 presidential vote

“To call an election without finding some common ground with the east and the south of Ukraine, I think, is very destructive for the country,” Lavrov said in an interview with the Russia Today news channel on Wednesday.

He said Moscow would only recognize something that is based on an all-inclusive process, urging the Ukrainian government to keep its promises of a constitutional reform and an official status for the Russian language.

Kiev must make sure that “all Ukrainian regions are comfortable, that they are being heard and that they are being engaged in this process on an equal ground,” Lavrov urged.

Ukrainian officials say they will hold presidential election as planned on May 25. But pro-Russian activists say they consider the government and the vote illegal.

On April 17, Ukraine’s interim government together with the United States, Russia and the European Union reached an agreement in the Swiss city of Geneva, calling for all sides to ease the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine, where anti-Kiev protesters keep occupying state buildings in several towns and cities.

On Wednesday, Moscow warned that Russia will respond if its interests are attacked in Ukraine, recalling the 2008 war with Georgia over South Ossetia.

The warning comes as 600 US troops are heading to the region in a show of force and follows Kiev’s orders for a new “anti-terrorist” operation in the eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian protests are gaining momentum.