The United States and Europe exchanged angry words with Russia yesterday in a tug-of-war over Ukraine - with US, EU and Nato leaders saying Moscow must not strong-arm Kiev into an unpopular alliance.
At a conference in Munich where Western diplomats met leaders of the Ukrainian opposition, United States Secretary of State John Kerry said protesters believe "their futures do not have to lie with one country alone, and certainly not coerced".
"Nowhere is the fight for a democratic, European future more important today than in Ukraine," he said. "The United States and EU stand with the people of Ukraine in that fight."
But Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, outnumbered in Munich by supporters of Ukraine's overtures to the European Union that President Viktor Yanukovich suddenly ditched last November, hit back with the same charge.
Lavrov said "political choice was preordained for Ukraine" when Nato offered Kiev potential membership of the western military alliance in 2008. Ukraine demurred but does cooperate with Nato on international peace missions such as that in Afghanistan.
"Here a choice is being imposed," said Lavrov, accusing some EU politicians of encouraging anti-Yanukovich protesters who "seize and hold government buildings, attack the police and use racist and anti-Semitic and Nazi slogans".
They traded barbs at the annual Munich Security Conference. Differences between the West and Russia on Ukraine and Syria, where Moscow backs President Bashar al Assad, made for a chilly atmosphere.
On the sidelines, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, an ally of jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko; Ukrainian boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko; lawmaker Petro Poroshenko and pop star Ruslana Lyzhychko lobbied for the opposition.
They led a small protest in the streets of the Bavarian capital amid meetings with Kerry, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
"We expect support for Ukraine, support for a democratically peaceful movement, because everyone wants to see Ukraine as a modern European country," Klitschko told reporters.
Demonstrators were saying "enough, enough waiting, enough corruption, enough of living without rules", he said.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article