Stop NATO
February 19, 2014
1) Obama threatens Ukrainian government over “peaceful protesters”
2) Russian ambassador to European Union derides – characteristic - one-sided, partisan, distorted Western media presentation of events in Ukraine
3) Weimar Triangle: French, German, Polish foreign ministers descend on Kiev to give Yanukovich Western ultimatum
4) Commandant Punch: Klitscho calls on Western patrons to levy “tough sanctions” on his country
5) France planning sanctions against Ukraine: foreign minister
6) French, German heads of state speak of sanctions against Ukraine
7) Ukrainian president dismisses pro-NATO head of military
1)
Russian Information Agency Novosti
February 19, 2014
Obama Threatens ‘Consequences’ if Ukraine Violence Continues
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Wednesday urged the Ukrainian government to stem the surge of violence in the ex-Soviet country and warned that there will be “consequences” if the deadly clashes continue.
“We are going to be watching very carefully, and we expect the Ukrainian government to show restraint, to not resort to violence in dealing with peaceful protesters,” Obama said during an official visit to Mexico.
The comments were Obama’s first on the situation in Ukraine after an explosion of violence there Tuesday that left 25 people dead amid clashes between riot police and anti-government demonstrators.
Ukraine’s main government security agency on Wednesday declared what it called a nationwide anti-terrorism operation as authorities attempted to clear a protest camp in the capital Kiev.
Obama said the United States “condemns in strongest terms the violence that’s taking place” in Ukraine and that Washington has been “deeply engaged with our European partners as well as both the Ukrainian government and the opposition to try to assure that that violence ends.”
“We’ll be monitoring very carefully the situation, recognizing, along with our European partners and the international community, there will be consequences if people step over the line,” he said.
The United States expects Ukrainian protesters “to remain peaceful” but is holding the government of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych “primarily responsible for making sure that it is dealing with peaceful protesters in an appropriate way,” Obama said.
“I do think there is still the possibility of a peaceful transition within Ukraine, but it’s going to require the government, in particular, to actively seek that peaceful transition, and it requires the opposition and those on the streets to recognize that violence is not going to be the path by which this issue will be resolved,” he said.
Obama did not specify the nature of the “consequences” Washington might back if the violence is not reined in.
But US Secretary of State John Kerry said earlier Wednesday that American officials are discussing “the possibility of sanctions or other steps with our friends in Europe and elsewhere in order to try to create the environment for compromise.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday condemned the violence in Ukraine but accused European leaders of refusing to admit that “radical elements” within the opposition are responsible for the carnage.
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2)
Interfax
February 19, 2014
Russian diplomat criticizes Western media for slanted coverage of events in Ukraine
BRUSSELS: Russian ambassador to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov has described as biased Western media coverage of the current situation in Ukraine.
Even serious and respectable Western media “feel a compulsion for one-sided coverage of the developments in Ukraine which is regrettable,” he said to reporters on Wednesday.
“The way developments in Ukraine are covered by different media outlets, including TV channels, sometimes creates the impression that two different countries are in question,” he said.
“I hope that the European Union and its member-countries have other sources of information as well,” the diplomat said.
Chizhov added that eight out of the current 28 European commissioners have a fairly good command of Russian. “I don’t think they have problems with objective information. Neither does the EU delegation to Kyiv,” he said.
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3)
Interfax
February 19, 2014
Foreign ministers of Poland, Germany, France to meet Yanukovych – Sikorski
BRUSSELS: Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski claims that the Thursday meeting with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych will be held in the format of the Weimar triangle – France, Germany and Poland.
Hence the meeting should be attended by the foreign ministers of the three countries – Frank-Walter Steinmeier from Germany, Laurent Fabius from France and Sikorski from Poland.
The conclusion can be drawn from his posting on Twitter. “Tomorrow’s meeting with President Yanukovych by Weimar triangle foreign ministers: FR-D-PL, with support from EU High Representative,” he wrote.
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4)
Itar-Tass
February 19, 2014
Ukraine’s opposition leader asks West to impose tough sanctions against officials
KIEV” Leader of Ukraine’s intransigent oppositionist UDAR party, former international boxing celebrity Vitali Klitschko has appealed to the West “to impose tough international sanctions on the Ukrainian officials,” whom he blamed with “the escalation of the conflict” in this country.
He made the appeal Wednesday as he spoke to reporters after a meeting with Western ambassadors accredited in Ukraine.
“Tough sanctions should be imposed without procrastination on the government officials who are guilty of the escalation of this conflict and the use of force, as well as on the people surrounding (President Viktor) Yanukovich and the country’s top officials,” Klitschko said.
He believes that “high-rank observers” should be dispatched to Ukraine for attending the talks with government officials, pinning down the decisions taken there and acting as guarantors of their implementation.
Klitschko, who along with the two other leaders of the irreconcilable opposition, Arseny Yatsenyuk and Oleg Tyagnibok, has apparently lost much of his power to control the rampaging crowds of radical “protesters”, also said the authorities should remove the law enforcement units from the streets of Kiev and other Ukrainian cities and send them back to the places of permanent stationing.
The oppositionist actions that escalated red-hot Tuesday have left at least twenty-five people dead, including seven to nine policemen.
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5)
Xinhua News Agency
February 19, 2014
France mulls sanctions as violence in Ukraine escalates: FM
PARIS: France would “probably”, with its European partners, take sanctions against Ukraine to stop escalating violence in Kiev, French Foreign Ministry Laurent Fabius said Wednesday.
Speaking after a weekly cabinet meeting, Fabius noted that Paris “will not remain unconcerned” over “a terrible situation at few hundred kilometers from (French borders).”
“We will consider sanctions…There may be a whole scale of penalties, including personal sanctions against people who are causing the violence. It’s necessary that calm returns as soon as possible and each part accepts the dialogue,” he added.
Moreover, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will “express a common position” on the situation in Ukraine, later in the day, after the Franco-German council held at the Elysee, as” those responsible for this can not go unpunished,” according to Fabius.
At least 25 people, including policemen and protesters, were reportedly killed and hundreds of people were wounded during the violence in Kiev that erupted Tuesday and continued into the early hours of Wednesday.
The violence was the latest wave of clashes between demonstrators and riot police in the political standoff, which began last November when the government’s decision to backtrack on the country’s European integration angered many Ukrainians.
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6)
Xinhua News Agency
February 20, 2014
Hollande, Merkel condemn violence in Ukraine, promise sanctions
PARIS: French President Francois Hollande and visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday condemned the bloody clashes in Kiev, Ukraine, vowing to punish those behind these acts of violence.
Holding a joint meeting of their cabinets in Paris, both leaders blamed the violent acts “unacceptable” and “intolerable” and ensured that “those who have committed acts (of violence) and those who are preparing further ones will not remain unpunished.”
The French president added that “graduated and targeted” sanctions would be discussed at the extraordinary meeting of European Union foreign ministers scheduled for Thursday in Brussels.
“We are on the side of men and women who suffer,” added the German Chancellor.
Early media reports said on Tuesday and in the early hours of Wednesday, at least 26 people died in street clashes between the riot police and protesters in Kiev. The confrontation also left 263 protesters and 342 officers injured.
The unrest marked the latest wave of clashes between demonstrators and police in the almost three-month-long political standoff, which began last November as peaceful demonstrations calling for the country’s European integration.
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7)
http://en.ria.ru/world/20140219/187700068/Ukrainian-President-Sacks-Chief-of-Armed-Forces.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
February 19, 2014
Ukrainian President Sacks Chief of Armed Forces
KIEV: Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has sacked the head of the armed forces, Col. Gen. Volodymyr Zamana, his press service announced Wednesday.
The reason for the dismissal was not immediately clear, but Zamana was quoted by the AFP news agency earlier this month as saying that “no-one has the right to use the armed forces to limit the rights of citizens.”
Yanukovych appointed Adm. Yuriy Ilyin, previously the head of the Ukrainian navy, as the new chief of the armed forces.
The presidential decree was published shortly after Ukraine’s main government security agency, the SBU, declared what it called a nationwide anti-terrorism operation.
Ukraine’s defense ministry earlier said that its soldiers might take part in the operation by protecting vital military locations from “takeover attempts by terrorists.”
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