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Ukraine president to discuss crisis with former leaders Western diplomats due in Kiev as stand-off continues
(about 2 hours later)
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is expected to hold talks with three former presidents over the political crisis which began when Ukraine decided not to sign an EU free-trade deal. Top Western diplomats are due in the Ukrainian capital Kiev as police move to break the blockade of government buildings by pro-EU protesters.
The talks come as protesters remain encamped in a central square in the capital Kiev. On Monday, security forces cleared some activists from government buildings. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland are to meet President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition.
The stand-off follows weeks of unrest. Mr Yanukovych is in turn due to meet three former Ukrainian presidents.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will also be in Kiev. Several people were hurt as police advanced overnight, before a deadline for protesters to lift their blockade.
Baroness Ashton will hold talks with government officials, opposition activists and civil society groups "to support a way out of the political crisis", her office said in a statement. However, the operation appears to have passed off relatively peacefully compared to clashes last month, when scores of people were injured and at least 31 arrests were made.
The European Commission says the EU's offer of an association agreement with Ukraine remains on the table, provided Ukraine meets the conditions - and they cannot be renegotiated. No action was taken against the main opposition camp on Independence Square, where about 2,000 protesters remained on Tuesday morning, huddling around braziers to keep warm, Reuters news agency reports.
Parallels with 2004 On Sunday, at least 100,000 protesters turned out, demanding the resignation of the government within 48 hours.
The president's press service said on Monday that Mr Yanukovych would support an initiative described as a "nationwide roundtable" to try to defuse the crisis. The political crisis began when Ukraine decided not to sign a landmark EU free-trade deal last month, while under pressure to strengthen economic ties with Russia.
He will meet his three predecessors Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko. The European Commission says the EU's offer of an association agreement with Ukraine remains on the table, provided Ukraine meets the conditions, which cannot be renegotiated.
Mr Yushchenko was Mr Yanukovych's pro-Western opponent in the 2004 presidential election, and eventually came to power on the back of the Orange Revolution. 'Serious risk'
The current crisis has invited parallels with 2004, with the biggest street protests seen since that time. A police raid on Monday on the headquarters of Ukraine's biggest opposition party, Fatherland, led Baroness Ashton to express concern and urge restraint on the eve of her visit.
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered on Sunday, but on Monday police began clearing some protesters from outside government buildings. Computer servers were removed during the raid on the party led by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who has been in prison since 2011 over a controversial gas contract with Russia.
Police were seen forcing protesters out of two streets where, according to the Interior Ministry, they were blocking access to administrative buildings. "I follow with concern the reports that police forces forcibly entered the office of the biggest opposition party..." Baroness Ashton said in a statement.
Some barricades and tents were also removed from at least two sites. "This comes on the afternoon of the same day that President Yanukovych proposed the establishment of a national roundtable, bringing together the leaders of all political forces and the three former presidents of Ukraine. These latest events seriously risk to derail the process."
Meanwhile, the opposition Fatherland party's headquarters was raided by security forces and computer servers were removed. In Moscow on Monday, Ms Nuland also expressed "deep concern", stressing Washington's support for Ukrainians' "European choice".
Fatherland is the party led by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was jailed in 2011 over a controversial gas contract with Russia. Protesters are demanding her release. She "urged Russia to use its influence to press for peace, human dignity and a political solution", the US embassy in Moscow said in a statement.
Opposition leaders have been urging supporters to defend Independence Square, the main protest site. Activists were seen building up barricades late into the night. US Vice-President Joseph Biden phoned President Yanukovych on Monday to stress "the need to immediately de-escalate the situation and begin a dialogue with opposition leaders", the embassy said in a separate statement.
The protesters have given Mr Yanukovych until Tuesday to dismiss the government and are demanding new elections for the presidency and government. Scuffles
They have condemned Mr Yanukovych for refusing to sign an association agreement with the EU last month. He said he shelved it because it would put trade with Russia at risk. Mr Yanukovych is to meet former presidents Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko.
But unrest has grown since police used violence against protesters at some of the earlier demonstrations. Mr Yushchenko was his pro-Western opponent in the 2004 presidential election, and eventually came to power on the back of the Orange Revolution, only to be eclipsed in the first round of the 2010 election.
Many of the protesters suspect Russia's President Vladimir Putin of trying to model a new Russian-led customs union on the Soviet Union. So far, only Belarus and Kazakhstan have joined it. The current crisis has invited parallels with 2004, with the biggest street protests seen since that time. On each of the last three Sundays, crowds estimated at 100,000 or more have flooded central Kiev.
On Monday, phalanxes of riot police, their helmets caked in snow, moved to clear Kiev's government district of protesters, tearing down barricades leading to the presidency, cabinet offices and parliament.
Scuffles broke out and, while there were no immediate official reports of injuries, members of the far-right Svoboda party said several people had been hurt. Two police officers were also reportedly injured.
The unrest in Kiev and other parts of Ukraine escalated after police used violence against protesters on 30 November.
The crisis has highlighted divisions in Ukraine, with many in the east of the country more sympathetic to Russia, and opposing both closer links with the EU and the anti-government protests.
One of the protesters in Kiev, former miner Ilya Shutov from Donetsk in the the largely pro-Yanukovych east of Ukraine, said protesters would stay until the president resigned.
"We were for the EU association agreement because we thought it would force our authorities to be civilised," he told Reuters. "Their refusal of Europe is a refusal to be civilised."