Russia’s foreign minister and his European and American counterparts traded heated words on Saturday morning over civil unrest in Ukraine.
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, Catherine Ashton, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen and president of the European Council Herman van Rompuy all sternly rebuked Russia for its stance towards its eastern European neighbour in Munich this weekend.
Defence chiefs, foreign ministers and world leaders are meeting in the Bavarian capital for the annual Munich Security Conference. The issue of Ukraine – alongside the crisis in Syria – has been one of the major topics of discussion among delegates.
As Ukraine’s anti-government protests have escalated in recent weeks, reports of kidnappings, torture and the murder of opposition activists have begun to emerge.
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, accused the West of stoking tensions in Ukraine. “What do . . . [these] increasingly violent protests have to do with promoting democracy?” Mr Lavrov asked. He said Ukrainian opposition activists were guilty of human rights violations – including the torture of Ukrainian police – and were racist and anti-Semitic.
Mr Lavrov’s remarks followed the assertion of Mr van Rompuy that “the future of Ukraine belongs in the EU.” The panel on which the two politicians appeared earlier saw Nato’s Mr Rasmussen declare that “Ukraine must have the freedom to choose its own path without external pressure.”
The strongest words of condemnation came later, however, from US secretary of state John Kerry.
“We see a disturbing trend,” Mr Kerry said, in a long and impassioned speech on the future of Europe and America’s relationship. “Through many parts of eastern Europe and the Balkans the aspirations of citizens are being trampled beneath corrupt and oligarchic practices.”
Nowhere, Mr Kerry said, was the fight for a democratic European future more apparent than in Ukraine.
The EU’s head of foreign affairs, Ms Ashton, has met Ukrainian opposition leaders on the fringes of the conference.
“I am deeply alarmed by the violence and cases of intimidation and torture,” Ms Ashton said, adding that she was “particularly appalled” by the torture of a leading opposition activist Dmytro Bulatov, and reports that Ukrainian authorities had tried to arrest him in his hospital bed.
Ms Ashton said she would be travelling to Ukraine next week on behalf of the EU.