Ukraine crisis: US runs the show in Kiev, says Sergei Lavrov
Residents at the centre of the crisis in Sloviansk are trying to live normally
The US is "running the show" in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.
Mr Lavrov told Russia Today it was "quite telling" that Kiev had re-launched its anti-terror operation against pro-Russian gunmen during a visit by US Vice-President Joe Biden.
Kiev and the West say Moscow commands the gunmen - claims denied by Russia.
In the past month, pro-Russian militants have overrun several cities in the eastern Donetsk region.
They have occupied public buildings and installed their own officials, in similar tactics to those used to take over the Ukrainian region of Crimea earlier in the year.
Pro-Russian gunmen largely control at least nine cities in Donetsk region
Kiev announced a renewed anti-terror operation as Joe Biden (L) visited
The US had earlier demanded that Moscow must publicly call for pro-Russian gunmen to lay down their weapons and leave public buildings.
The US also urged Russia to tone down its aggressive rhetoric or face further sanctions.
However, Mr Lavrov accused the US of meddling in the Ukraine crisis.
"There is no reason not to believe that the Americans are running the show," he said.
He also told Russia Today that Moscow would respond in line with international law if "the interests of Russians have been attacked directly".
It was unclear what kind of response he envisaged.
However, he suggested a comparison with South Ossetia, when Georgian troop attacks sparked a full-scale conflict with Georgia in 2008.
Mr Lavrov also reiterated accusations that Kiev had failed to fulfil commitments laid out in the17 April Geneva accord.
The deal stipulated an immediate end to violence in eastern Ukraine and called on illegal armed groups to surrender their weapons and leave official buildings.
The Russian minister's accusations mirror the charges laid by the West against Moscow.
The EU and US accuse Russia of controlling the gunmen, and of failing to honour the Geneva accord.
Mr Biden met Ukraine's new leaders in Kiev on Tuesday and called on Russia to "stop talking and start acting" to defuse the Ukraine crisis.
The US is to provide an additional $50m (£30m) for political and economic reforms in Ukraine, including $11m to help run the presidential election due on 25 May.
The American military is also boosting its military presence in central Europe and the Baltic states.
Some 150 American troops are due to arrive in Poland later, the first part of a 600-strong deployment that the US says is to support its Nato allies in the region.
Meanwhile, the stand-off in towns across Donetsk region appears to be intensifying.
A pro-Kiev local councillor was found dead on Tuesday near the flashpoint city of Sloviansk.
Ukrainian officials said Volodymyr Rybak's body suggested he had suffered "brutal torture".
And pro-Russian militants in Sloviansk are reportedly holding American journalist Simon Ostrovsky, who works for Vice News.
Ukraine has been in turmoil since last November, when Kiev was gripped by protests over whether the country should lean more towards Russia or Europe. BBC
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