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Obama Issues Pointed Warning to Ukraine Government Violence in Ukraine Creates Deepening Clash Between East and West
(about 7 hours later)
TOLUCA, Mexico — President Obama pointedly warned the Ukrainian military on Wednesday to stay out of the political crisis that has already ravaged the streets of Kiev and said the United States would hold the government responsible for further violence. MOSCOW — The two sides in what is developing into an East-West clash over Ukraine hardened their positions on Wednesday, with Russian officials denouncing what they called a coup by right-wing extremists, even as the United States and Europe threatened to impose sanctions on those responsible for the violence that has erupted in the capital, Kiev, and spread to other cities.
“We have been watching very carefully and we expect the Ukrainian government to show restraint, to not resort to violence in dealing with peaceful protesters,” Mr. Obama said during a one-day visit here to meet with Mexican and Canadian counterparts. “There will be consequences if people step over the line.” The starkly divergent reactions underscored the deepening confrontation between Russia and the West over Ukraine’s fate, with each side accusing the other of interference and disputing even the facts of what was happening.
He added: “And that includes making sure that the Ukrainian military does not step into what should be a set of issues that can be resolved by civilians.” Expressing alarm at the escalating death toll, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President François Hollande of France blamed the security forces of President Viktor F. Yanukovych and made it clear that they supported a political transition that would allow Ukrainians to elect a new government. After meeting with Mr. Hollande in Paris, Ms. Merkel said the convulsion of violence resulted from a “deliberate delaying tactic” by Mr. Yanukovych to avoid a compromise and preserve his place in power.
The president’s decision to address the Ukrainian situation without being asked reflected the growing concern by the White House that the standoff between the government of President Viktor F. Yanukovych and demonstrators in the street has increasingly spiraled out of control. Until now, Mr. Obama has largely left it to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Secretary of State John Kerry to be the administration’s public spokesmen on the crisis. Russia, by contrast, vowed to use all its influence to support Ukraine’s government and joined Mr. Yanukovych in accusing his opponents of trying to seize power in what amounted to a coup. In one of its most pointed statements since the political crisis in Ukraine began, the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry even evoked the Brown Revolution that brought the Nazis to power in Germany in 1933, blaming “criminal activities of radical opposition forces” for causing the bloodshed and denouncing European countries for failing to acknowledge that.
Mr. Obama interrupted his opening meeting with Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto to tell reporters that “the United States condemns in the strongest terms” the violence that has claimed lives in the last two days. His reference to the military underscored American worries that troops may soon be called out of the barracks, further fueling the confrontation. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, accused the West of “encouraging the opposition to act outside of the law.” “We don’t want to impose ourselves, as some of our overly zealous Western partners are trying to do,” he said in televised remarks from Kuwait.
Mr. Obama said protesters should themselves refrain from violence. “But we hold the Ukrainian government primarily responsible for making sure that it is dealing with peaceful protesters in an appropriate way.” Although the president did not use the word, aides separately repeated the White House position that sanctions may be imposed in response to the violence. A senior State Department official dismissed the charge that the United States was meddling in Ukraine’s affairs, saying that Washington had been open about its efforts to encourage a power-sharing government.
“We have made it clear we would consider taking action against individuals who are responsible for acts of violence within Ukraine,” Benjamin Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to the president, told reporters on Air Force One during the trip here Wednesday morning. “We have a tool kit for doing that that includes sanctions.” The official threw the meddling charge back at Moscow. “They have not been transparent about what they’ve been doing in Ukraine,” the official said. “I would put the question back to the Kremlin, ‘What would they support?’ ”
But the White House was clearly trying to use the threat to induce action by the Ukrainian government. “Events like what we saw yesterday are clearly going to impact our decision making,” Mr. Rhodes said. On the other hand, he added, if the government pulls back its forces, releases imprisoned protesters and pursues dialogue with the opposition, “that would obviously factor into our calculus as well.” President Obama, on a visit to Mexico, interrupted his opening meeting with President Enrique Peña Nieto to tell reporters that “the United States condemns in the strongest terms” the violence that has claimed lives in the last two days. He pointedly warned the Ukrainian military on Wednesday to stay out of the political crisis that has already ravaged the streets of Kiev and said the United States would hold the government responsible for further violence.
The administration has threatened sanctions repeatedly in recent weeks to little if any apparent effect. Mr. Yanukovych and his government were certainly aware of the past threats when riot police officers stormed the protesters in Kiev but they evidently calculated either that sanctions were a price they were willing to pay or that any such measures were unlikely to be imposed, at least with enough teeth to cause sufficient pain to alter their equation. The president’s decision to address the Ukrainian situation without being asked reflected the growing concern by the White House that the standoff between the government and demonstrators in the street has spiraled out of control.
“We have been watching very carefully and we expect the Ukrainian government to show restraint, to not resort to violence in dealing with peaceful protesters,” Mr. Obama said. “There will be consequences if people step over the line.”
In a news conference Wednesday evening, Mr. Obama promised to “continue to engage all sides” in Ukraine, but said that the government has the “primary responsibility to prevent the kind of terrible violence we have seen, to withdraw riot police, to work with the opposition to restore security and dignity.”
The substance of that threat became clear on Wednesday evening, when the Obama administration said it had imposed a visa ban on 20 senior Ukrainian officials whom it accused of playing a role in the government’s crackdown on Tuesday. The State Department declined to say which officials were on the list, but a senior State Department official said it included “the full chain of command responsible for ordering the violence last night.”
The foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland are scheduled to travel to Kiev on Thursday to press for a compromise, but given the deep divisions between Russia and the West there appeared to be little room for one.
That has raised the prospect that what began as a political crisis in Ukraine could deteriorate into an armed confrontation. Some political figures in Moscow were warning of a repeat of the disintegration of Yugoslavia.
Aleksei K. Pushkov, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of Russia’s lower house of Parliament, said the most radicalized opponents of Mr. Yanukovych no longer sought a compromise but rather had taken up arms. “Now there is a radical element that is not fully controlled by the opposition,” he said. “It’s not a political process anymore. It’s a quasi-civil war.”
The ferocity of the violence in Kiev appeared to stun Europe’s leaders, leaving them scrabbling for an effective response to a crisis that began last November when Mr. Yanukovych rebuffed a plan to deepen political and economic ties with the European Union.
In Brussels, the European Union began the work of drafting sanctions that could impose travel bans and freeze the bank accounts of individuals who were found responsible for repressive acts. Such sanctions have become a standard reflex of the bloc’s foreign policy, though their effectiveness is debated and it remains unclear who exactly triggered the latest violence in Kiev.
Secretary of State John Kerry, who was visiting Paris, warned that the United States would join the Europeans in imposing sanctions, but also stopped short of pledging to do so. He said there was still time for Mr. Yanukovych to negotiate a resolution.
“Our desire is for Mr. Yanukovych to bring people together, dialogue with the opposition, find the measure of compromise and put the broad interests of the people of Ukraine out front,” Mr. Kerry said.
The West has threatened sanctions in recent weeks to little if any apparent effect, and Mr. Yanukovych and his government were certainly aware of the past threats when riot police officers attacked the protesters in Kiev.
In Russia, officials also sought to influence events. Russia has pledged $15 billion in financial assistance to help Ukraine avert a default and released a second installment of $2 billion on Monday, helping set off the latest protests by those who fear the terms of Russia’s aid would push the country further into the Kremlin’s embrace.
On Wednesday, however, Ukraine officials said the payment was being held up for “technical reasons,” Reuters reported.
President Vladimir V. Putin spoke by telephone with Mr. Yanukovych overnight, but his spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, declined to detail the conversation except to say that Mr. Putin was not trying to dictate the terms of any settlement.
“In the president’s view, all responsibility for what is happening in Ukraine rests with the extremists,” Mr. Peskov told reporters, according to the Interfax news agency.
At the same time, Mr. Peskov deflected questions about the continuation of Russia’s loans, which the Kremlin froze for a period last month when the confrontation appeared to be worsening.
“We cannot give more into the air,” Mr. Pushkov said. “There should be a responsible government. Otherwise, it would just disappear.”
In Russia, as in Europe, the crisis seemed a pivotal moment for the continent and its dividing lines. “We Poles,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland said, “will not remain indifferent to these events because we know that the developments in Ukraine will decide the history and the future of the whole region.”