Ukraine crisis enters sixth day as international mediators get involved

The foreign ministers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) convened in Kyiv on Dec. 5 and 6, offering its assistance to resolve the Ukrainian political crisis. OSCE representatives criticized the Ukrainian government for violating the rights of its citizens when dispersing the maidan, allowing the Berkut to brutally beat citizens and not exercising resistance during the onslaught on Bankova Street. They also drew attention to the number of injured journalists as evidence that the police wasn’t stopping law violations, but beating peaceful citizens. “Ukraine is showing that it’s not ready to fully adhere to OSCE principles,” said German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.

 

In his remarks opening the conference, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov rejected the criticisms and focused on the legal violations of the opposition forces. “Certain politicians are interfering and using this process as a struggle against the lawfully elected government,” Azarov said. “A part of the protestors are extremist forces, intent on taking over administrative buildings.”

 

Azarov told U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland that he’s willing to create a negotiating group to stabilize the situation but only after the government’s buildings are freed. Meanwhile, Council of Europe General Secretary Thorbjorn Jagland agreed with Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers to create a commission to monitor the investigation of the events of Nov. 30-Dec. 1, the Kommersant-Ukraina newspaper reported on Dec. 6. The commission will include a single representative from the government, opposition and international community, Jagland stated.

 

A local Kyiv court issued rulings on Dec. 3 ordering protestors to leave the Kyiv City Council building and to stop blocking the Cabinet of Ministers building within five days. The orders authorize police to use lawful measures to unblock the buildings. “The police is employing all measures for these protests to be held peacefully,” said acting Kyiv police chief Valeriy Mazan. “But if the law is violated, we will act decisively, harshly.”

 

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, expressed his concern on December 6 about the use of force to disperse demonstrators. “I fear that forces wanting Ukraine to abandon European road will not shy away from using violence,” he tweeted, adding, “Truly critical days ahead for Ukraine. Dangers should not be underestimated.” As of Dec. 6, opposition activists continued to occupy central Kyiv’s Independence Square and the Kyiv City Council building.

 

Opposition leaders submitted to the Procurator General of Ukraine audio evidence that the November 30 assault of Berkut special police forces on peaceful demonstrators was premeditated. They also registered a bill to reduce the nation’s police force, including liquidating the Berkut division and reorganizing it. On December 5, Arseniy Yatsenyuk of the opposition Fatherland party called on extending the blockade of central Kyiv and launching protests at the president’s lavish residency in suburban Kyiv, which he is alleged to have expropriated from the state.

 

Another people’s meeting will be held on Dec. 8 on Independence Square at which the opposition will demand the punishment of those taking place in the beating of peaceful citizens on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, criminal charges against Internal Affairs Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko, the release of political prisoners, the resignation of the government of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and pre-term parliamentary and presidential elections.

 

Zenon Zawada: The involvement of the OSCE and other possible organizations in resolving Ukraine’s political crisis is a positive step towards stabilization. Yet even top EU ministers recognize the looming threat of the state using more force in the next days to disperse demonstrators from central Kyiv and retake control of key buildings. We expect an attempt on the early morning of December 9 or 10.

 

Should that happen, we expect a backlash from government opponents returning to the city center in repeated protest activity throughout the next year. In reaction, the government will have to intensify repressions of the rights and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens, including further restrictions on the mass media and increased persecution of political opponents.

 

Next year’s presidential election campaign season (which formally begins very late in 2013, or three months ahead of the March 2015 vote) will be particularly vicious and plagued by violence. Such events will only worsen Ukraine’s attractiveness for investors and extend the political crisis for at least 18 months.