ウクライナ大統領と反政権派が「停戦」合意、欧米は制裁の構え | Reuters
ウクライナ:オバマ大統領、政権側を批判 - 毎日新聞
オバマ政権はこれまで、ヤヌコビッチ大統領に野党勢力との対話を促すなど政治的解決を優先してきた。しかし、これまで制裁発動に慎重だった欧州連合（ＥＵ）が圧力強化に向けて方針を転換したことから、２０日に緊急外相会議を開くＥＵと連携しながら、政権幹部の資産凍結など制裁を段階的に強化していく構えだ。
これまでＥＵは制裁をためらい続け、米政府高官から「弱腰過ぎる」などと厳しく批判されてきた。ＥＵ側には、ウクライナの政治事情は複雑で「単なる制裁で解決はしない」（シュタインマイヤー独外相）との分析がある。対立よりウクライナと良好な関係を維持し改善を促す方が得策との判断もあった。しかし、ウクライナ政府が強硬策を取ったことで、制裁をちらつかせると同時に、ヤヌコビッチ大統領に野党との政治対話や早期の大統領選実施を求める「両にらみ」（独外務省）の厳しい外交へと転換せざるを得なくなった。
Ukraine’s president, opposition agree to a truce ― RT News
Obama threatens ‘consequences’ if Ukraine clashes escalate, visa bans imposed on officials ― RT News
“We expect the Ukrainian government to show restraint, to not resort to violence in dealing with peaceful protesters,” Obama said Wednesday from Mexico ahead of a summit with other North American leaders. “We’ve also said that we expect peaceful protesters to remain peaceful.”
"My hope is at this point that a truce may hold but ... ultimately the government is responsible for making sure that we shift toward some sort of unity government, even if it's temporary, that allows us to move to fair and free elections so that the will of the Ukrainian people can be rightly expressed without the kinds of chaos we've seen on the streets," Obama said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have “agreed to continue to do everything so that there is no escalation of violence” in Ukraine, Merkel said, as quoted by Reuters. The German Chancellor spoke with the Russian president over the phone.
“I informed him that French, German and Polish foreign ministers planned to go to Kiev tomorrow [Thursday]. We decided to keep very close contact with Russia,” Merkel said on the sidelines of a meeting with French President Francois Hollande in Paris.
A statement from the Russian Presidential Executive Office said that Putin emphasized in the call that Western powers must be even-handed in their condemnation of any violent acts coming from Kiev and beyond.
“Vladimir Putin also underlined that it is important for Western countries to give up their accusatory attitude towards Ukraine’s incumbent leadership and stressed the importance of strongly condemning the opposition forces liable for organizing unlawful extremist and terrorist activities,” the statement said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said that the violence on both sides is alarming.
"We are talking about the possibility of sanctions or other steps in order to create the atmosphere for compromise," he said from Paris, where he was meeting with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and others.
Kerry echoed Obama in saying that the Ukrainian people deserve to determine their own future.
"Our desire is for President [Viktor] Yanukovich to bring people together, dialogue with the opposition and find [a way] to compromise and put the broad interests of the people of Ukraine out front," he said, according to AP.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said that violence from all sides of the Ukrainian conflict is “completely unacceptable,” at the same time urging Yanukovich to call off government forces.
“I am deeply concerned by the scenes we are witnessing in Ukraine. The violence on all sides is completely unacceptable and President Yanukovich has a particular responsibility to pull back government forces and de-escalate the situation,” Cameron said in a statement.
Yanukovich fired Ukraine’s Armed Forces leader, Lieutenant-General Vladimir Zamana, on Wednesday. The Ukrainian president also named Admiral Yury Ilyin the new Army chief, ITAR-TASS reported.
Meanwhile, NATO’s top military commander also called for discretion among Ukrainian government officials, requesting "responsible leaders avoid the use of military force against the people of Ukraine."
"I am calling upon the new military leadership in Ukraine to open a dialogue with us to bring this situation to a peaceful resolution," tweeted US Air Force General Philip Breedlove, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
Govt did not initiate violence in Kiev – Ukrainian FM to RT ― RT News
It was not the Ukrainian government that initiated the latest outbreak of violence in Kiev, Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara told RT, commenting on the accusations by the opposition who place the blame for the bloody confrontation on officials.
“First of all, it was not the Ukrainian government [that started] the violence,” Kozhara told RT’s Egor Piskunov.
In the past several weeks, President Viktor Yanukovich and the Ukrainian government “actually refrained from all offensive actions,” Kiev’s top diplomat said. He added that it was “no secret” that Ukraine’s Western partners asked them not to resort to such actions.
“That’s why we think that today all responsibility for violence actions lies with the opposition. That’s why if we are talking sanctions I think today the leaders of the Ukrainian opposition can be a subject to those sanctions,” he said.
Before the riots began on Tuesday, “the opposition announced that they will have a peaceful march to the premises of the Ukrainian parliament,” said Kozhara. But what was supposed to have been a peaceful demonstration turned into a violent takeover.
“The opposition leaders called the crowd of people and well-organized, aggressive, extremist groups to seize governmental buildings and to use force against police. It was the starting point of all riots happening yesterday and over the night.”
The Ukrainian government is calling on the opposition “either to distance themselves from those extremists or to take on the responsibility of the unfortunate events that happened in the last days.”
Ukraine is in continuous contact with the West, the Foreign Minister added. “We expect many top foreign visitors.” The West is telling Ukraine that “violence should be stopped and peaceful negotiations between the government and the opposition should go on,” which is the position of the President of Ukraine. “Yanukovich made a statement calling the opposition to restart negotiations. And we think that it is better to have any kind of peaceful negotiations process than to have riots on the streets.”
Kozhara stressed that pressure from the US on the Ukrainian government to refrain from offensive acts encourages some radical parts of the opposition to adopt aggressive actions. “This status of un-punishable actions inspires more and more radicals to participate in the streets riots, and attacks against the governmental offices, and against the police.”
Police have been instructed not to use firearms. However, there are numerous cases of the opposition using firearms, according to Kozhara.
“The casualties testify that the people were killed not from firearms used by the police, but mostly by handmade and hunting firearms. Many wounds of the deceased people show that they were shot from their backside. Some casualties [and accidents] happened inside the protesting crowd.”
The foreign minister described the situation in Ukraine to be “at a lowest point,” but “stable.”
“We expect that the opposition leaders will accept the invitation by the president and will restart negotiations. And we are all extremely sad and have great sympathy to the families of the deceased people who died yesterday and overnight in the street riots.”
In terms of negotiation compromises, Kozhara said that Ukraine implemented almost all of the requirements set out by the opposition. “The opposition asked to take the resignation of the government and the president did it. The opposition also asked us to cancel all laws adopted on January 16 and all those laws were cancelled...And we are ready to start negotiations with the opposition on the constitutional reform.”
The government would also like to see the same responsibility demonstrated by the opposition during talks.
“Today, it is extremely important that we have constructive negotiations and would transfer political debates from the streets to the premises of the Ukrainian parliament. And we hope very much that tomorrow and Thursday the Ukrainian parliament will be able to start working and to take important decisions the Ukrainian people need today.”
One of the problems highlighted by the foreign minister is the division within the opposition. “Our impression is that there is strong competition about who is number one among the opposition leaders. And today Ukraine is on the eve of the presidential campaign to start very soon, so there is this political competition inside the opposition.”
The foreign minister also commented on the cultural makeup of Ukraine, noting regional differences.
“We would wish that those differences would be not exploited by political parties. Today, Ukraine should concentrate on the points which unite all Ukrainians, not divide us.”
The foreign minister concluded his statement by saying that even though Ukraine takes advice from both West and East, it asks all foreign governments to “respect the right of the Ukrainian people for self-determination.”
Ukraine president agrees to truce with opponents as U.S. imposes visa bans | Reuters