MOSCOW, January 20. /ITAR-TASS/. The State Duma, lower house of parliament, voices concern about the aggravation of the situation in Ukraine, chairman of the Duma Committee for the CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Leonid Slutsky said on Monday.

Street confrontation has also been organised with the participation of pro-Western non-governmental organisations. “Our ‘strategic friends’ in the West can’t allow Ukraine to bring closer with the Eurasian project. So, they’re providing funding to different non-government organisations that lead to street riots, which don’t combine with a civilised European idea,” Slutsky said.

“We maintain contacts with our colleagues in Ukraine and the civil society. We’ll intensify cooperation with Ukraine in all fields,” the Duma lawmaker said.

State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin said he had had “a detailed” telephone conversation with Verkhovna Rada chairman Vladimir Rybak on Friday, January 17. “Everyone should abide by the law, including in Ukraine, of course,” Naryshkin added.