DHAKA: Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov rounded on the European Union Saturday, accusing its leaders of interfering in Ukraine’s internal affairs and helping stoke violent anti-government protests.

‘Why are many prominent EU politicians actually encouraging such actions although back home they are quick to severely punish any violations of the law?’ Lavrov told a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference.

‘What does incitement of increasingly violent street protests have to do with promoting democracy?,’ he said in response to European Council president Herman Van Rompuy, who earlier said Ukraine must be free to choose its own future, a future which lay in Europe.

‘Why don’t we hear condemnation of those who seize and hold government buildings, attack the police, torture police, use racist and anti-Semitic and Nazi slogans?’ Lavrov said, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1750 HRS, FEB 01, 2014