Moscow demands role for Russian separatists in Ukraine conference

(Vatican Radio) Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned there can be no solution to the crisis in Ukraine without involving pro-Russian separatists. He made the remarks while the first funerals were held for dozens of people killed in recent clashes between government supporters and opponents.

After attending a meeting of the Council of Europe in Vienna, Austria, Lavrov said there was no reason to hold an international conference on Ukraine without activists from the country's troubled south east.

Last month the United States, Russia, Ukraine and the European Union agreed to ease tensions, but so far pro-Russian separatists have refused to hand over their weapons.

Minister Lavrov said that besides involving pro-Russian forces in the discussions, Ukraine's interim government should "postpone the planned presidential elections on May 25th till the creation of a new constitution" and "halt military operations" in the south east.

FUNERALS UNDERWAY

The Russian top diplomat spoke while the port city of Odessa held the first of more than 40 funerals of mostly pro-Russian supporters. They died Friday in a building set on fire in fighting between separatists and supporters of Ukrainian unity.

The violence in Odessa was the bloodiest since the ouster of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych in February.

Several people, including a young nurse, have also died in recent days during clashes between security forces and pro-Russian forces in the cities of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk.

It has become difficult for the international community to intervene after observers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were kidnapped by pro-Russian rebels late April, before being released last week.

The West has accused Moscow of supporting unrest in Ukraine after Russia already annexed the Crimean Peninsula. However the Kremlin denies any involvement in the latest conflict.