Donald Tusk: Poland calls for sanctions against Ukraine’s authorities

Meeting the aspirations of Ukrainians is more important than political considerations.

Poland’s Prime-Minister Donald Tusk spoke of that at the session of the parliament today.

“We, the Poles, will definitely not remain indifferent to the events in Ukraine. Not only from the point of view of our past, but also of your neighborhood and geopolitical situation”, - he said.

The Polish Prime Minister pointed out that the situation in Ukraine had no precedents.

“The authorities that were elected democratically, are losing this democratic nature because of its actions. On the other hand, the opposition that claims it wants negotiations and compromise is not united on many issues. We are also dealing with unprecedented pressure on the part of other state - Russia”, - the politicians added.

Tusk also explained the absence of the sanctions against Ukrainian authorities saying that “Ukraine’s future should be decided by Ukrainians themselves”.

“No state or any international institution may impose anything on Ukrainians. Today is the day to introduce sanctions against Ukrainian authorities. The moment has come when meeting the expectations of the people, who have been desperately waiting for months, is more important than political considerations. We have gone through a similar drama ourselves. That is why today I will be speaking with the leaders of the EU member states and call for tangible sanctions against Ukrainian authorities and political apparatus”, - he emphasized.

We would remind that on 18 February in central Kiev most violent clashes took place between the protesters and police forces.

They started in the morning right after the opening of the parliament session, which was supposed to resolve the political conflict in the country. The opposition prepared a draft law for returning to the 2004 Constitution, for which a part of the ruling party’s parliament fraction was ready to vote. Nevertheless, the document was not registered in the parliament. This caused indignation among the protesters, since the changes in the Constitution were considered the most real possibility to settle the conflict in Ukraine.

200 thousand activists circled the parliament. Small clashes started due to provocations, which later on grew into large scale clashes between the protesters and police. Police shot at protesters with guns, riot police used grenades, rubber bullets and buckshot. Activists constructed barricades around the parliament building, but soon they were pushed out of the government district. Medical stuff and parliament members reported 5 deaths. In the evening after the cleansing of Maidan Nezalezhnosti started, the death toll reached 15. Several hundred protesters were wounded. At the current moment 25 deaths are reported.