Russia's Lavrov criticizes Ukraine statement on neutral status

Reuters

Published Dec 19, 2014 05:31AM ET

Russia's Lavrov criticizes Ukraine statement on neutral status

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized on Friday a statement by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on ending Ukraine's neutral status as confrontational rhetoric favored by what Russia calls Kiev's 'party of war'.

"The draft law to reject Ukraine's neutral status as well as the order from Petro Alexeyevich Poroshenko about the economic blockade of the southeast (Ukraine) is a tribute to the rhetoric that the party of war in Kiev thirsts after," Lavrov told a news conference.