(ANSA) - MOSCOW - ''The US and the EU have tried to make another colour revolution in Ukraine. There is no doubt that the real issue at stake is not only Ukraine's destiny, because they are trying to use Ukraine as their puppet in the geopolitical game'', according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who spoke in Moscow, condemning the change of power in Kiev as unconstitutional. Lavrov's statement comes shortly after US President Barack Obama accused Russia of breaking the Geneva agreement.

Meanwhile, fighting continues in the country. According to the pro- Kremlin newspaper ''Russia Today'', that quotes Stella Gorosheva, spokesman for the pro-Russian activists, some ''unknown persons'' have opened fire on a checkpoint run by pro-Russian militia near Sloviansk, eastern Ukraine, killing two men on guard duty.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry says, on the one hand, that some Ukrainian armed forces have repelled an attack made by about 100 militiamen on a pro-Russian arms depot at Artemivsk, in the Donetsk region .

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, on the other hand, has posted on his Facebook page that some troops from Kiev have taken away from pro-Russian militia the control of the municipality of Mariupol, which is an important harbour overlooking the Black Sea, located in the same region (Donetsk).

From its headquarters in Moscow, Gazprom said that the Ukrainian debt for Russian gas has become increasingly heavy : today the Russian giant unveiled a $ 11.3 bln bill for natural gas which has not been taken in 2013, based on a ''take or pay'' contractual formula. (ANSA) .