MOSCOW: Russia's foreign ministry said Sunday it was outraged by a deadly shootout in eastern Ukraine that breached an Easter truce, urging Kiev to abide by the terms of an international accord.
Three pro-Russian militants and one attacker were killed in a gunbattle near the eastern Ukrainian town of Slavyansk early Sunday, after a fight broke out at a roadblock.
"The Russian side is outraged at this provocation by the fighters, which bears witness to the lack of desire by the Kiev authorities to rein in and disarm nationalists and extremists," the ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies.
"The Russian side insists on Ukraine strictly fulfilling the obligations it took on to de-escalate the situation in south-eastern Ukraine."
Russia expressed "amazement" that the deaths could have occurred after Ukraine, Russia, the United States and the European Union signed an accord in Geneva on Thursday aimed at easing tensions in the mainly Russian-speaking eastern region.
The Russian ministry blamed Ukrainian ultra-nationalists from the Right Sector group for the gunbattle.
"Peaceful citizens who were not guilty of anything died as the result of an armed attack by fighters from the so-called Right Sector group," the ministry said.
Residents of Slavyansk seized cars belonging to the attackers and "found weapons, aerial maps of the area and Right Sector emblems," the ministry said.
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