Reacting on the statement the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation published on February 24, 2014 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine considers necessary to declare the following.

Acute social and political crisis, accompanied by violence of the past regime, demanded swift and effective counteraction to overcome it. It was the purpose of the Agreement on resolving the crisis in Ukraine, signed on 21 February 2014. However, the self-withdrawal of the former leaders of the state from fulfilling its responsibilities created obstacles to the due implementation of the agreements.

At the same time, the Parliament of Ukraine, the only legislative body and a legitimate institution of official power, claimed responsibility for the normalization of the situation in the country and decided to enforce most of the provisions of this Agreement, in particular, the decision to return to the Constitution of 2004, appointing the extraordinary presidential elections on 25 May 2014.

Creation of the “Government of national unity” continues.

Key decisions of the Parliament of Ukraine aimed to normalize the situation in the country, voted by the constitutional majority of people's deputies of Ukraine that represent all parliamentary political forces.

The legitimacy of decisions taken by Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has already gained recognition from many international partners of our country.

Today in Kyiv, as well as in other cities of Ukraine, public peace and order were restored. With this purpose Ukrainian law machinery, using the principles of openness and tolerance, adjusted an effective cooperation with local communities.

As a part of the process of restoration of the national unity, primordial attention is now given to the consideration of interests of all citizens from all regions of Ukraine in order to prevent violations of their legal rights.

Thus, all necessary steps towards removing the State from the current crisis and stabilizing our society are actually undertaken by the new Governance.

Allegations contained in the Statement of Russian Foreign Ministry regarding so-called “threats to civil rights, particularly of minorities and religious confessions” are absolutely false and are not based on the proven facts.

This statement also contains biased and non-relevant allegations regarding “terrorist methods of suppressing dissent” and distribution of  “neo-Nazi ideology “ by the political parties that gained the support of the biggest majority of Ukrainian people during parliamentary elections of 2012, that is taking nowadays all responsibility for the situation in the country.

At this stage, Ukraine is particularly interested in supporting the efforts of the international community to ensure economic stability and prevent potential threats to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the State. Special expectations, in this context, are relying on the Guarantor States of the territorial integrity and political independence of Ukraine in accordance with the Memorandum on Security Assurances in connection with Ukraine's accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (Budapest Memorandum).

Thus, Ukraine reconfirms big importance to the recent Statement of the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs (as one of the parties to the Budapest Memorandum) on the inadmissibility of the external interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine and the importance of creating conditions for Ukraine’s development as a part of a pan-European family.

For our part, we reiterate a commitment to the Ukrainian-Russian relations based on a new, truly equal and good-neighborhood basis, what was particularly underlined in the Address to the Ukrainian people made by the Acting President of Ukraine – Head of Ukrainian Parliament H.E.Mr. Oleksandr Turchynov

Right after the formation of the new Government, Ukrainian party will be ready to restore the full-scaled bilateral dialogue within the frameworks of institutions of the Ukrainian-Russian Interstate Commission.