Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany and the European Union will “do everything” to seek a democratic resolution of the political crisis in Ukraine after meeting with the country’s main opposition leaders in Berlin.
Former world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko said EU sanctions against Ukraine were “one option” discussed with Merkel, while Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a Ukrainian lawmaker and former central banker, said the International Monetary Fund could boost its offer of assistance to the country.
“Civil liberties must be protected and a democratic way out of the crisis must be found,” Merkel’s chief spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said in an e-mailed statement following the meeting. Klitschko and Yatsenyuk briefed reporters separately in Berlin.
Ukrainian opposition groups plan to march on parliament in Kiev tomorrow to push lawmakers to curb President Viktor Yanukovych’s powers, risking renewed conflict with police even as they offer some concessions to end three months of deadlock.
Merkel urged the parties to seek a democratic solution and warned against renewed violence in the “still extremely tense” situation. Yatsenyuk and Klitschko welcomed Merkel’s support and said the former Soviet republic must move closer to Europe.
“We need in my country to avert any kind of violence and to stop the bloodshed,” Yatsenyuk told reporters in English. “It’s up to the government and to this president to make the real actions in order to fix this ongoing political crisis.”
Sovereign insolvency in Ukraine is “very, very feasible,” Yatsenyuk said, adding that talks with the IMF were “imminent.”
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