Ukraine: opposition leaders, Western countries to blame for clashes escalation - Lavrov

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Several Western countries to blame for failure of understanding between Ukranian government and opposition by encouraging opposition to provocate actions and threatening with sanctions, said Russia FM Sergei Lavrov. Russia urges West to refrain from obtrusive mediation in Ukraine, said Lavrov.

Extremists are to blame for the events happening in Ukraine, however opposition forces, which refused the compromise, and Western countries, which interfered in the domestic affairs of Ukraine, bare some responsibility as well, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

 "Of course, the blame is on extremists, who tried all these weeks and all these months to bring the situation to such forceful scenario but considerable share of responsibility is also on opposition activists, who refused compromise, gave the authorities demands outside the legal frame and in the end turned out to be incapable to fulfill what has been agreed," Lavrov said at a news conference following a meeting with his Kuwaiti counterpart.

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Escalation of violence in Ukraine: ways out of crisis

International relations expert and political scientist Sergey Tolstov believes that the events in Kiev on February 18 have drawn some kind of a line:

 "We had a peaceful political process, there were quite tolerable relations in society, and now, it's all broken. That is, instead of washing a dinner service and putting it on a shelf, people decided to break it in order to not wash it. Now, we're witnessing this breaking, and its making the conditions of life in our country unsuitable for life. I don't know how many people should be killed for the participants of the political actions to realize their responsibility."

 According to the expert, it is termination of the military confrontation that should be at issue:

 "If the opposition publicly separates itself from the radicals, this rebellion would be suppressed."

Head of the Ukrainian Association of Political Sciences, Valery Bebik, believes that one of the main problems lies in the fact that the Amnesty Law put a part of the protesters outside the negotiation process. "People do not support the parliamentary opposition, nor do they support the authorities or another Constitution. They oppose the beating of students. This people's voice was not heard. It is necessary to include other political structures that are influential on the Maidan in the negotiation process. People were not heard, and today, we have this explosion. There are inspirations, both on the part of Russia and the EU. Ukraine has become a communications courtyard for intelligence agencies, which are pulling all the strings through provocateurs."

Political scientist Vadim Karasev outlined two scenarios: a forceful scenario with unpredictable consequences and a disavowal of any ultimatums.

"The parties may agree and give guarantees to each other; and if some side can't calm its radicals, that party is not capable of coming to an agreement. It is always necessary to control one’s supporters. One should also be aware that the whole country is the negotiating table. We must think about early parliamentary elections. Let other politicians prepare a new Constitution, let them work for a year as a Constitutional Assembly, which will prepare and adopt a new Constitution, and the country will gradually adopt the constitutional order."

In his turn, in an interview with the Voice of the Capital, political technologist Taras Berezovets expressed confidence that today's events were a result of the Verkhovna Rada’s refusal to register bills introducing amendments to the Constitution:

"It was the coup de grace to people’s patience. It is also not right to say that the opposition backs today's events, because the protesters are not oriented at the opposition. Killings of peaceful civilians in the centre of the capital lie on the conscience of the Ukrainian police and its leaders, who gave orders to use firearms."

According to the expert, after the blood was shed in the capital, there remain fewer and fewer chances for a political settlement. But he believes that a possibility of a political compromise lies in an immediate return to consideration of the Constitution of 2004, and also in appointing early presidential and parliamentary elections as well as in negotiations with the participation of international mediators from the EU, the US and Russia.