Support elections and we'll negotiate, Ukraine tells Russia

VIENNA , May 6 (UPI) -- Ukraine's acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deschchytsia said Ukraine will support new negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, if Russia supports Ukrainian presidential elections on May 25.

Deschchytsia spoke Tuesday at a news conference at the Council of Europe meeting in Vienna, Austria, noting that if Russia would “eliminate this threat” to Ukraine’s upcoming election “and eliminate its support for the extremist elements in Ukraine, we are ready to have” meetings in Geneva. Clashes across Ukraine between law enforcement and military forces, and pro-Russian separatists, have put the election, and the meaning of its outcome, in jeopardy.

Earlier Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the thought of holding an election while the government was deploying its army against its own people "unusual." A previous meeting in Geneva called for the abolition of illegal military groups in Ukraine and suggested an amnesty for all anti-government protesters.