Condemn Ukraine violence but keep dialogue open says Pinotti

(ANSA) - Strasbourg, April 15 - The international community should keep dialogue open with Moscow despite an escalation of violence by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine that on Tuesday spurred a response from the interim government, Italian Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti said at a European Union defence ministers' meeting in Luxembourg.
    "Italy's position, while firmly condemning actions that cannot be approved, is that of not closing chinks of light for dialogue," she said.
    She said the "escalation of tensions" should not mar the progress made in recent talks between NATO and Russia, although the stand-off in eastern Ukraine "has de facto frozen the possibility of joint operations that were very interesting". Ukraine's acting president, Olexander Turchynov, on Tuesday announced the start of an "anti-terrorist" operation against pro-Russian activists in the east, starting near the large city of Donetsk. US President Barack Obama has urged Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to use his influence to make separatists in Donetsk and other parts of eastern Ukraine stand down.
    Putin denied that Russia was intervening in the crisis.
    Pro-Russian rebels have seized buildings in about 10 towns and cities across Ukraine's eastern provinces, which are increasingly ethnically Russian the farther east you go and form the heartland of Ukraine's heavy industry.