Ukraine crisis: Russia rules out new Geneva talks

Russia's foreign minister has ruled out holding a new round of talks in Geneva in a bid to defuse the Ukraine crisis.

Sergei Lavrov said there was no point as last month's accord between the US, EU and Russia had not been implemented.

He spoke after a Council of Europe meeting, where ministers were expected to support the Ukrainian authorities' plans for a presidential election.

Mr Lavrov said it would be "unusual" for it to take place when the army was being used against the population.

In recent days, security forces have launched a crackdown on pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country, triggering clashes outside the town of Sloviansk.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Tuesday that four soldiers and an estimated 30 separatists had been killed in the "anti-terrorism operation". 

He said that up to 800 well-trained militants armed with large-calibre weapons and mortars were hiding among civilians in the town, where government buildings have been seized and checkpoints set up.

A Russia Today reporter in Sloviansk said residents were stockpiling food and there were barricades on almost every road.

Meanwhile, many flights in and out of Donetsk were suspended. The Ukrainian aviation authorities gave no reason for the move.

New checkpoints were earlier set up around Kiev. The interior ministry said it wanted to prevent the movement of weapons and explosives.

The authorities also attempted to re-establish control over Odessa, with Interim President Olexander Turchynov dismissing the acting head of the regional administration, Volodymyr Nemyrovskyy.

Forty-six people died in the Black Sea city on Friday in a fire at an official building and fighting between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian protesters.

'Added value'

At a news conference in Vienna on Tuesday, Mr Lavrov said holding further international talks on Ukraine as some have suggested would be like "going round in circles".

Instead, he explained, the government in Kiev and their Western backers needed to implement the series of steps to resolve the crisis that they had agreed in Geneva on 17 April.

Under the agreement, all parties, including the separatists in eastern Ukraine, were to "refrain from violence, intimidation and provocative acts". It also said those occupying buildings would have to leave them and be disarmed in return for an amnesty.

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