Ukraine Blames Russian Agents for Kiev Carnage

Ukraine's new Western-backed leaders on Thursday blamed Russian agents and the ousted pro-Kremlin president for organizing two days of carnage in Kiev that killed nearly 90 supporters of closer EU ties.

The explosive allegation were leveled only moments after Russia lashed out at NATO for building up the defenses of ex-Soviet nations and brandished the threat of further hikes in the price Ukraine must pay for gas after ousting its Kremlin-backed leaders.

The February unrest in Kiev has left deep scars on a nation trying to overcome the most trying episode in its post-Soviet history.

The furious battle for Ukraine's future between Moscow and the West has exposed the deep divide that splits the nation of 46 million between those who see themselves as either culturally tied to Russia and or a part of a broader Europe.

Those tensions exploded on February 18 when gunshots in the heart of Kiev heralded the start of nearly three days of pitch battles between riot police and protesters -- some armed with nothing more than metal shield -- that killed scores dead.

Both sides have blamed the other for starting the violence. But no formal probe results had been unveiled in Kiev until acting interior minister Arsen Avakov presented his initial findings to reporters on Thursday.

Avakov's conclusion was decisive and potentially devastating for the new leaders' future relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The acting interior minister said that deposed president Viktor Yanukovych had issued the "criminal order" to fire at the protesters while agents from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) helped him plan and carry out the assault.

"FSB agents took part in both the planning and execution of the so-called anti-terrorist operation," Avakov told reporters.

But an FSB spokesman told Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency that Ukraine's allegations were patently false.

"Let those allegations remain on the conscience of the Ukrainian security service," the unnamed FSB official said.

AFP reporters in February saw some protesters who were armed with hunting rifles and pistols.

But their number was small and a predominant majority of the tens of thousands who came out the streets were either unarmed or carrying wooden or metal shields.

- Russia demands NATO answers -

Europe's worst security crisis in decades appeared to be only gaining momentum on Thursday as NATO boosted the air power of ex-Soviet and Communist nations that Putin still views as part of Russia's strategic domain.

The 28-nation bloc has said firmly it did not intend to get militarily involved in Ukraine even if the ominous Russian force now massed along its eastern frontier made a push against its neighbor after annexing the flashpoint Crimea peninsula last month.

But the Alliance has vowed to review both its immediate strategy and historic mission after conceding that a Russian strike against Ukraine -- a non-NATO member with an ill-equiped and underfunded army -- could be both decisive and quick.

The U.S. Air Force this week sent 10 F-15 fighters to help NATO expand its military presence in the three tiny ex-Soviet Baltic nations -- a decision whose wisdom was angrily questioned on Thursday by Russia.

"We have addressed questions to the North Atlantic alliance," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters.

"We are awaiting not simply an answer, but an answer that will be fully based on the rules that we have (previously) agreed."

Lavrov added that up to 40,000 Russian troops that U.S. and EU officials believe are now staging snap military exercises near Ukraine were following all agreed international norms.

- Economic warfare -

The military buildup on the eastern edge of the European Union follows months of economic pressure that Russia had poured on Ukraine in a seeming effort to force its leaders to reverse their Westward course.

Russia's state energy giant Gazprom -- long accused of being wielded by the Kremlin as a weapon against uncooperative ex-Soviet and Eastern European states -- this week hiked the price it charges Ukraine for natural gas shipments on which its industries depend by 44 percent.

The punitive but largely expected step eliminated a price discount that Putin had extended the old government in December in reward for its decision to reject closer EU ties.

But Ukraine now faces the possibility of the price it pays for 1,000 cubic meters of gas jumping by another $100 -- to a European record of $485.50 -- within a matter of days.

Moscow defends the further rate increase by arguing that the $100 rebate it awarded Kiev in 2010 in return for its decision to extend a lease under which the Kremlin keeps its Black Sea Fleet in Crimea no longer applied because the peninsula was now a part of Russia.

The possibility of a further rate hike is expected to top the agenda of Thursday's talks in Moscow between the chief executives of Gazprom and the heads of Ukraine's state energy firm.