Weimar Triangle warns Ukraine: step back from conflict

Unidentified armed men in military uniform patrol near a building of the airport in Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine, 28 February: EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV

Leading Ukrainian airline Ukraine International said on Friday that airspace had been closed over Crimea since armed men - which Ukraine's interior ministry claimed were Russian forces - took over Simferopol airport in the morning.

The ethnic Russian dominated region, where the local government wants a referendum on more autonomy from Kiev, is the only area of Ukraine to resist the new interim government since President Yanukovych was ousted from power last week.

A joint statement by Weimer Triangle foreign ministers from Poland, Germany and France, Radosław Sikorski, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Laurent Fabius, said that "everything must be done to decrease the tension in the eastern region and promote peaceful discussions among relevant parties".

"[A] lasting accommodation of the existing diversity in Ukrainian society necessitates reaching out to Eastern and Southern regions and engaging with all legitimate interests, including minority rights especially regarding language issues," the statement continues, as the new government formed in Kiev.

The Ukraine government started extradition proceedings to bring President Viktor Yanukovych back to Ukraine from Russia, where he reappeared on Friday after fleeing the capital on 21 February.

Though Ukraine's acting president accusing Moscow of an invasion of territory in Crimea, Yanukovych, who is wanted in Kiev for the deaths of 100 during three months of protests, urged President Putin to be bolder during statements on Ukraine.

"Knowing Vladimir Putin's personality, I am surprised that he is still saying nothing," he said. "Russia cannot be indifferent, cannot be a bystander watching the fate of as close a partner as Ukraine. Russia must use all means at its disposal to end the chaos
and terror gripping Ukraine."

Earlier, President Putin said all sides had to "stop provocations and start negotiations". (pg)

source: PAP/Reuters/Interfax