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20 Feb 2014

Protests as diplomats converge on Kiev

EU foreign ministers agree to move ahead with imposing sanctions including visa bans and asset freezes on those responsible for the violence in Ukraine.

  • EU foreign ministers agree to move ahead with imposing sanctions
  • Fresh fighting breaks out in Ukraine; death toll now tops 50
  • Anti-government protesters hold 67 policemen hostage in the capital
  • EU foreign ministers facing a night of “difficult negotiations” with Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin sends envoy to Ukraine
  • Follow Channel 4 Europe Editor Matt Frei live in Kiev

The EU is understood to have agreed targeted sanctions against Ukranian officials they hold responsible for the violence in Kiev that has so far killed at least 67 people since Tuesday and injured more than 200.

Speaking as she left an emergency gathering in Brussels, Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino said the position had been agreed with the French, German and Polish foreign ministers, who are currently in Kiev negotiating with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich.

Late on Thursday the Polish Foreign Ministry said the there EU foreign ministers had agreed to stay overnight to continue discussions, commenting that they were facing a night of “tough negotiations.”

President Barack Obama is also reportedly considering options, including sanctions, against Ukraine after the rising death toll. He spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss steps to help end the violence. “The president and senior members of his team have been acting quickly to consider the range of options that are available and acting with a sense of urgency, because of the terrible violence that we saw overnight,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted that asset freezes and travel bans would be adopted “as a matter of urgency”.

The German Foreign Office tweeted: “On the state of talks of the 3 #EU FMs in #Kyiv: Roadmap towards a political solution is being discussed with the parties involved. #Ukraine.”

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent an envoy to Ukraine, at the request of Mr Yanukovych, to try to mediate talks between the government and opposition.

“Putin decided to send (Russian) human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin on this mission,” state-run RIA quoted the spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, as saying after a telephone conversation between Mr Putin and Mr Yanukovych.

Separately, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov blamed the west for the ongoing chaos in Ukraine, saying that American sanctions had “created additional stimuli for the opposition not to compromise.”

Government has a special responsibility not to use excessive force Nato Secretary General Andes Fogh Rasmussen

Speaking during a visit to the Iraqi capital Baghdad, Mr Lavrov also said the political opposition in Ukraine did not want to “distance themselves from extremist groups.”

“America has already imposed sanctions in regards to some of the Ukrainian government representatives. In this way they are creating additional stimuli for the opposition not to compromise, and indirectly, if not directly, urging protesters to continue the lawlessness and chaos,” Mr Lavrov said.

Russia also criticised possible western sanctions against Ukrainian officials, after the United States imposed visa bans and the European Union considered similar measures.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said that threats of sanctions were “inappropriate” and would only aggravate the confrontation between the Ukrainian government and its opponents.

Earlier the Ukranian ambassador to London, Volodymyr Khandogiy, was summoned to the Foreign Office for the second time in as many days to be told that the action to crush the protests was “unacceptable”.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said it was now up to the EU to put pressure on the the Ukrainian authorities to bring the bloodshed to an end.

“The United Kingdom condemns these actions in the strongest terms. By permitting such action to take place, the Ukrainian government is putting itself at odds with reasonable opinion all across the world,” he said.

Nato Secretary General Andes Fogh Rasmussen used Twitter to urge all parties to stop the bloodshed, saying “Government has a special responsibility not to use excessive force.”

The White House also urged Ukraine’s president to immediately withdraw security forces from downtown Kiev and respect the right of peaceful
protest after a truce fell apart and the death toll mounted.

“We are outraged by images of Ukrainian security forces firing automatic weapons on their own people,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement on Wednesday.