Russia's President Vladimir Putin (C) signs a law on ratification of a treaty making Crimea part of Russia, during a ceremony in the Kremlin in Moscow with Valentina Matviyenko (L) and Sergei Naryshkin (R)
Russian parliament speaker Sergei Naryshkin said Tuesday that a genocide was being committed in Ukraine, amid warnings in the West that the country risked plunging into civil war.
"We are facing a genocide of Russian and Ukrainian people," the speaker of the State Duma or lower house of parliament told a forum on dialogue in the volatile Balkans region.
"A punitive operation is ongoing against the people who demand the protection of human rights and the federalisation of the country (Ukraine)," Naryshkin said on a two-day visit to Serbia, Russia's traditional ally.
His comments followed a surge in deadly violence between pro-Kiev forces and pro-Russian militants in the east and south of the former Soviet republic.