Ukrainian Protesters Criticized By Russian Foreign Minister

Ukrainian Protesters Criticized By Russian Foreign Minister

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister has criticized the series of violent protests in Ukraine’s capital city Kyiv. He noted that the situation is becoming harder and harder to keep under control and has compared the riots to pogroms.

During the third consecutive day of protests initiated by highly criticized legislation that restricts the very right to protest police forces had to deal with everything from Molotov cocktails to explosives.

Lavrov added that he is trying to everything in his power help Ukraine stabilize the situation without interfering in the country’s internal affairs. More than 100,000 Ukrainians gathered in Kyiv and hurled whatever they could get their hands on at police officers who in turn answered with rubber bullets.

Unofficial numbers say that more than 200 people have been hurt, 100 of which are protesters. Vladimir Kiltschko, the leader of the opposition asked the crowd to avoid violence but was in turn sprayed in the face with a fire extinguisher.

Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych has asked for a work group to address complaints, however, opposition leaders said they won’t participate in talks if the President himself does not attend.

This is another episode in the series of violent protests that started last November after Ukraine, under the leadership of Yanukovych decided to back out of a trade deal with the European Union in order to establish stronger ties with Russia.

Posted by James Fried on Thursday January 23 2014, 3:41 AM EST. Ref: VoA. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0