MOSCOW, December 11. /ITAR-TASS/. High-ranking politicians from Western countries that are supporting the demonstrators openly pay more and more frequent visits to Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, over massive protests staged by the supporters for European integration of Ukraine. The State Duma lower house of Russian parliament finds this fact “running counter to all rules of international practice, blatant interference of foreign statesmen in the domestic affairs of sovereign Ukraine.”
On December 10, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland and U.S. Ambassador in Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt met with the leaders of Ukrainian opposition and stated straightforwardly about the support, which the United States is giving to European intentions of the protesters.
On Tuesday, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton visited Kiev’s Independence Square, where the protest actions of the supporters of European integration have been going on since November 21. She stated that the Ukrainian authorities should not take any active action to break up the demonstrators.
Other high-ranking officials of the international community, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius also condemned the attempts to disperse the backers of European integration.
The Russian lawmakers also voiced their opinion about the current events in Ukraine on Tuesday. “Several Western politicians at the rallies staged by the opposition appeal overtly to oppose the decisions taken by the country’s legitimate authorities, making their destructive contribution in the deterioration of the political situation in the country,” the document adopted by the State Duma reads.
Analyzing this situation Russian, experts see two sides of the coin in it.
“The European Union proposed to Ukraine to become a member of the Eastern Partnership project and to sign an association agreement with the EU. The signing was foiled as the Ukrainian authorities decided not to do it. This was an unpleasant surprise for Brussels and therefore it is logical and comprehensible that officials of the EU states began to make an increasingly larger number of visits in Kiev. They were forced to respond to the situation. This is normal,” director for international research of the Institute of Modern Development Sergei Kulik told Itar-Tass.
“On the other hand, the foreign interference in the sovereign policy of Ukraine is absolutely impermissible. The speech of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton at a rally in central Kiev is beyond the framework of the diplomatic rules. I take this fact in the critical way. From the point of view of international law one should not act so openly and impudently,” the expert noted.
“As compared with the activities and political bias of European countries during the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004 their impact on the current events in the country are much more moderate. This is far from being the top priority for the EU now,” president of the Council for Foreign and Defence Policy, editor-in-chief of the magazine “Russia in Global Politics” Fyodor Lukyanov told Itar-Tass.
“Neither the European Union nor the U.S. have either material or political resources to reverse the situation in Ukraine towards country’s accession in the Eastern Partnership project. Major players of the European Union do not have a true interest to Ukraine’s associate membership in the EU. The supporters for European integration in Kiev are mainly supported by Poland, Lithuania, Sweden, who are the initiators of this process, and partially by Germany. Most EU states are indifferent to this issue or are not interested at all in Ukraine to join the Eastern Partnership project, particularly in Southern European countries, who have their own problems,” the experts believes.
“As for Catherine Ashton’s speech at the opposition rally in Kiev, she is a minor EU official, who hardly takes any important decisions. Certainly, the Brussels officials are offended that the leaders of several European countries are indignant with the refusal of Ukrainian authorities to sign an association agreement with the EU. So, they are seeking to take revenge on President Viktor Yanukovich for his inconsistent position and the humiliation of the Europeans,” Lukyanov said ironically.
“Over the protesting events in Ukraine the U.S. takes a quite reserved position mainly linked with the observation of human rights. Washington has actually given a signal to the EU that “If you have made a mess of Eastern Partnership, let’s clean it up yourself.” As for the escalation of the protest events in Ukraine, there will be most likely no active foreign interference in them,” a high-ranking source in the Russian security services told Itar-Tass.
ITAR-TASS may not share the opinions of its contributors