A general view of Independence Square during protests in downtown Kiev, Ukraine, 18 February 2014. Ukrainian riot police on 18 February launched a massive assault on thousands of anti-government protesters in central Kiev. Photo: EPA/Sergey Dolzhenko
Sikorski has said the push to pacify the demonstration on Kiev's Independence Square (Maidan) resembles acts of suppression carried out by Poland's communist regime in the 1980s.
The foreign minister noted that the EU has “an entire palette of sanctions at its disposal,” highlighting the success of such actions against Iran and Cuba, but also acknowledging the “limited” effectiveness in the case of Belarus.
Sikorski has said that “all decisions will be made following a cool analysis of the situation,” adding that it must be clarified who started the bloodshed.
“The outside world has very little influence, when a state decides to use violence, but this will certainly not pass without consequences,” he affirmed.
Kiev's bloodiest day
Tuesday proved to be the bloodiest day since protests began in November in Kiev, after President Viktor Yanukovich abandoned plans to sign an association agreement with the EU.
Opposition MPs had called for parliament to vote on a return to the 2004 constitution. If the reform had been pushed through, it would have markedly reduced the president's powers, but the government stalled.
As a result, protesters led a march on parliament, and were blocked by police. Clashes erupted, and authorities gave an ultimatum, asserting that if demonstrators did not pull back by 6 pm local time, “all legal means” would be employed to disperse the demonstrators.
Riot police moved in, and by Wednesday morning the authorities had taken about half of Independence Square.
A joint statement released by Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko and head of the security services Alexander Jakimienko laid all the blame on the opposition.
“They want to gain power even at the cost of shedding blood,” they declared.
Yesterday, former Polish President Aleksanser Kwasniewski, who has led a a European Parliament monitoring mission to the Ukraine, reflected that Yanukovich is against reaching a compromise, because he is aware that it would deprive him of power before next year’s presidential elections.
“I’m afraid that we’ll be witnessing a permanent crisis until election day,” Kwasniewski said. (nh)
Source: PAP, TVN24