Interfax: Ukraine opposition leaders urge support from West for pro-EU movement
KYIV. Dec 6 (Interfax) – Ukrainian opposition leaders – Vitali Klitschko of the UDAR party, Arseny Yatsenyuk of Batkivshchyna (Fatherland), and Oleh Tyahnybok of Svoboda (Freedom) – have met with the U.S. assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, Victoria Nuland.
“We call upon the leaders of the European Union and the United States to resolutely condemn violent actions by the Yanukovych regime. We also ask them to avoid official contacts and apply personal sanctions against those who gave the illegal orders to use force against peaceful demonstrators,” a statement from UDAR quoted Klitschko, its leader, as saying during the meeting.
Klitschko said Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his government had shown disregard for European values and principles. The UDAR leader urged the EU and the United States not to take Yanukovych’s assurances that Ukraine remains determined to integrate with the EU seriously.
“He has already made his choice, opting to make Ukraine a dictatorship and preserve its economic backwardness via agreements with Russia. Such agreements run against the national interests of Ukraine,” Klitschko said.
He accused the Ukrainian police of violating human rights in trying to disperse demonstrations and asked Nuland to raise the issue with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
He suggested that foreign governments send representatives to Ukraine “not in order to meet with our officials but in order to obtain an objective picture of the situation in Ukraine and give support to the democratic process and civil society.”
He expressed suspicion that Yanukovych would launch a wave of reprisals against his adversaries.
Batkivshchyna and Svoboda said in statements that their leaders had also met with former Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg and British Minister for Europe David Lidington and discussed the current political situation in Ukraine, demonstrations in Kyiv and potential solutions to the crisis with them.
“The Ukrainians have taken to the streets for peaceful protests, in order to safeguard their lawful right to live in a civilized, law-based, European Ukrainian state,” Svoboda leader Tyahnybok was quoted as saying.
“The opposition demands the dismissal of the government, the prosecution of senior Interior Ministry officials, and a complete resetting of the system of government – early presidential and parliamentary elections. We appeal to the representatives of foreign countries in Ukraine to understand the current social developments, to tell the leaders of their countries about the peaceful protests, and to apply appropriate sanctions against officials who violate the civil rights of Ukrainians,” Tyahnybok said.
Batkivshchyna said in a statement that Yatsenyuk, its parliamentary leader, had had meetings with the Czech and Latvian foreign ministers, Jan Kohout and Edgars Rinkevics.
