US puts conditions for financial aid to Ukraine
February 8, 2014, 7:33 am

Nuland offered food to pro-European Union activists as she and U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt, right, walked through Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, on Wednesday [AP]

“We have had extensive discussions at all meetings concerning support from the international community, including the United States,” US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland told reporters at a media conference on Friday.

Nuland said Kiev should conduct constitutional and electoral reform to “quickly move towards the path of protecting human rights, dignity, a de-escalation of the conflict, and political reforms.”

Nuland was earlier criticized for the disparaging remarks used by her to describe the EU allies. “Fuck the EU,” Nuland was heard saying in a recent phone call with the US ambassador to Kiev, Geoff Pyatt.

Christiane Wirtz, spokesperson for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Nuland’s comments were “totally unacceptable.”

The political tension in Ukraine was triggered by anti-government protests, which began last November in support of the country’s European integration.

To end the rallies, the opposition demands early presidential and parliamentary elections and constitutional changes that will curb the president’s powers.

On Thursday, Nuland met Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leaders to seek ways out of the political crisis in the ex-Soviet country.

Lode Vanoost, former deputy speaker of the Belgian Parliament, said the eternal tragedy of genuine people’s protests, including Ukraine’s is that they are most often than not usurped by forces with an agenda of their own.

“The present leaders of the protest do not exactly have solid democratic credentials, to put it mildly. What they stand for is indeed closer ties with the EU for their own private benefit but apart from this, I believe, they will be keeping the present political system in place, with them at the wheel,” Vanoost told The BRICS Post.

TBP and Agencies