‘Canada wants to play a part in their building a future’: John Baird in Ukraine …
KYIV, Ukraine — Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird meet with the new Ukrainian prime minister, Arseny Yatseniuk, in Kyiv on Friday.
Baird had already met with former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and was also expected to meet with acting president Oleksandr Turchynov.
Baird is leading a delegation of Conservative MPs and Ukrainian-Canadian community leaders on the visit.
Speaking with reporters in Kyiv early Friday, Baird said he wanted to show Canada’s support for the new government, ”to support them on the transition to democracy, to elections, to support them in their economic needs.”
”That’s why we’re here to do a lot of listening and to make it clear that Canada wants to play a part in their building a future,” he said.
Baird tweeted that he visited St. Michael’s Monastery, which played a major role in helping those injured during the unrest, then said Canada would provide $200,000 in medical aid for Ukrainians caught in the recent violence.
Had the chance to visit St. Michael’s Monastery who played a major role in helping those injured. #Ukraine http://t.co/mB3zYf9jG0—
John Baird (@HonJohnBaird) February 28, 2014
Just announced that Canada will provide 200K in medical aid for Ukrainians caught in the violence.—
John Baird (@HonJohnBaird) February 28, 2014
Baird has welcomed the appointment of the new government, although Ottawa says sanctions against Viktor Yanukovych’s former regime are on hold.
However, a travel ban remains in place that prevents those with ties to Yanukovych from travelling to Canada.
The federal government says it wants to await the green light from the new Ukrainian leaders before deciding on sanctions.
”Minority rights will be very important,” Baird added Friday. ”I know the new government will want to build a country that’s inclusive of everyone. They were citizens in a country where the government didn’t take that view.”
After his arrival in Kyiv, Baird toured the central square, called the Maidan, where thousands of people staged protests over the past few months.
Baird also tweeted Friday that it was an “emotional experience walking through the Maidan,” adding, “I wish for peace upon the Ukrainian people, and mourn those lost.”
Emotional experience walking through the Maidan. I wish for peace upon the Ukrainian people, and mourn those lost. http://t.co/bsthv3nWQv—
John Baird (@HonJohnBaird) February 28, 2014
The tweet was accompanied by a picture of a white dove painted on the side of a stack of old tires.
Canadian opposition members weren’t invited to travel with the Canadian delegation to Ukraine.
Jason MacDonald, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s spokesman, said the Liberals and the NDP hadn’t earned a spot on the trip.
He pointed to Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s flippant joke about Ukraine last week, and said the NDP “wouldn’t pick a side.”
The visit came as the fugitive Ukrainian president on Friday pledged to fight for his country’s future, in his first public appearance since disappearing from Ukraine.
“I intend to keep fighting for the future of Ukraine against those who are using fear and terror to seize the country,” he told a news conference in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. Ukraine’s president was last seen on Saturday.
Yanukovych also insisted he “did not flee anywhere” but left for Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.
Yanukovych lambasted the West for allegedly betraying a Feb. 21 agreement between the government and the opposition, saying that recent actions by the opposition run counter to the EU-brokered agreement.
Russian troops took control of the two main airports in the strategic peninsula of Crimea, Ukraine’s interior minister charged Friday, as the country asked the U.N. Security Council to intervene in the escalating conflict. Russian state media said Russian forces in Crimea denied involvement.
No violence was reported at the civilian airport in Crimea’s capital of Simferopol or at the military airport in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, also part of Crimea. At the Simferopol airport, a man claiming to speak for the camouflage-clad forces patrolling the airport described them as Crimean militiamen.
Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service said about 30 Russian paratroopers from the 810th brigade of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet had taken up position outside the Ukrainian Coast Guard base in the Sevastopol area. It said the paratroopers said they were there to prevent any weapons at the base from being seized by extremists.
With files from the Associated Press
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