Hollande, Obama Share 'Concern' over Ukraine Violence, Canada Vows More Sanction against Russia
President Francois Hollande of France and Barack Obama of the U.S. share the same "concern" over the violence witnessed in east Ukraine over the past few days, the French presidency said in a statement Monday.
The two leaders voiced their worry in a telephone conversation in which Hollande expressed hope that a Geneva meeting on Thursday between representatives from Ukraine, Russia, the United States and Europe "will start a dialogue" to defuse the situation.
Meanwhile, Canada vowed to impose fresh sanctions on Russia in concert with its NATO allies and blamed Moscow "thugs" for fomenting trouble in eastern Ukraine.
"Peace and stability is being threatened here in a way that has not been threatened since the end of the Cold War," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.
Harper said the seizure of official buildings in eastern Ukraine by pro-Kremlin militants in orchestrated attacks over the past 48 hours was "patently, without any doubt whatsoever, strictly the work of Russian provocateurs sent by the Putin regime."
And he vowed "Canada will take additional measures" to further politically and economically isolate Russia.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird went further, calling the militants "thugs" who "have been crossing the border" into Ukraine from neighboring Russia.
He said there are "very clear and disconcerting parallels between what is happening in eastern Ukraine and leading up to the annexation of Crimea."
He noted that the militants are armed with weapons that "you can't buy at army surplus stores." "I don't know who the Russian federation thinks it's kidding when it tries to pretend it has nothing to do with them," he said.
Baird will travel next week to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Latvia and Estonia to meet officials to discuss the escalating situation in Ukraine.
Canada, with the world's third-largest population of ethnic Ukrainians, was the first Western power to recognize the ex-Soviet state's independence in 1991.
In response to Russia's annexation of Crimea last month, Ottawa announced targeted sanctions against Russian officials it said bore responsibility for the crisis.
Source: Agence France Presse
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