Moscow and Kiev spar over who was to blame for deadly sniper attacks
Ukraine's new government thinks shooters were Russian special forces with orders to sow mayhem; Moscow fingers opposition for the killings
One of the biggest mysteries hanging over the protest mayhem that drove Ukraine's president from power is who was behind the snipers who sowed death and terror in Kiev?
That riddle has become the latest flashpoint of feuding over Ukraine - with the nation's fledgling government and the Kremlin giving starkly different interpretations of events that could either undermine or bolster the legitimacy of the new rulers.
Ukrainian authorities are investigating the February 18-20 bloodbath, and they have shifted their focus from ousted president Viktor Yanukovych's government to Vladimir Putin's Russia - pursuing the theory that the Kremlin was intent on sowing mayhem as a pretext for military incursion. Russia suggests that the snipers were organised by opposition leaders trying to whip up local and international outrage against the government.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday called for an investigation by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, saying the truth could no longer be "covered up".
Ukraine's new health minister - a doctor who helped oversee medical treatment for casualties during the protests - said that the similarity of bullet wounds suffered by opposition victims and police indicates the shooters were trying to stoke tensions on both sides.