Brussels, 18/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 18 February, the European Union High Representative, Catherine Ashton, stated that she was “deeply worried about the grave new escalation” of violence in Kiev and by the reported number of victims but has not mentioned any threat of using sanctions yet. She condemned “all use of violence, including against public or party buildings” and urged the leaders of Ukraine to address “the root causes of the crisis”. Ashton said that political decisions had to be taken from within parliament and advocated the formation of a “new inclusive government”, progress on constitutional reform and the preparation of transparent and democratic presidential elections. She repeated that “the EU stands ready to assist Ukraine in this process”.
Hannes Swoboda, the leader of the S&D Group at the European Parliament, said that Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian president, “has reached a new level of anti-democratic behaviour. Preventing parliamentarians from voting shows a frightening lack of respect for the fundamental principle of democracy. It also shows that Mr Yanukovych now fears that he can no longer command a majority to defend his powers”.
After several weeks of calm, violent clashes again broke out on Tuesday in Kiev between opponents of president Yanukovych and the police. According to the police, five civilians have been killed and the Ministry of the Interior has given the demonstrators an ultimatum to put an end to their protest by the end of the day. (LC/transl.fl)