麦凯恩乌克兰“示威” 为反对派助阵

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), left, takes a photograph as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) makes a speech to pro-European integration protesters in Kiev Sunday.

A showdown between Russia, on one side, and the United States and the European Union, on the other, drew closer here Sunday, as two American senators told a crowd of hundreds of thousands of protesters that Ukraine’s future lies to the west, not the east.

“We are here,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), “to support your just cause: the sovereign right to determine [Ukraine’s] own destiny freely and independently. And the destiny you seek lies in Europe.”

Added Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.): “Ukraine’s future stands with Europe, and the U.S. stands with Ukraine.”

“Molodtsi,” the crowd chanted in Ukrainian, indicating its approval. But the president whom the opposition so despises, Viktor Yanukovych, is heading Tuesday for Russia to cement deals involving natural gas purchases and financial credits to prop up his country’s ailing economy.

Yanukovych has vowed that he will not commit Ukraine to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s new Eurasian Customs Union, but the Ukrainian opposition doesn’t believe him.

Murphy, McCain and European politicians who addressed the crowd in Kiev on Sunday turned up the pressure on Yanukovych, promising that their governments will consider individual financial sanctions against responsible Ukrainian officials if there is any further outbreak of police violence against the protesters who come and go at the semi-permanent encampment on Kiev’s Independence Square.

Yanukovych has tried to mollify the opposition by resuming talks with the E.U. on a trade agreement. His Nov. 21 decision to back away from the deal triggered the protest movement.

But in Brussels on Sunday, the E.U. commissioner for expansion, Stefan Fule, announced on Twitter that he was suspending negotiations with Ukraine on a revised trade agreement because Yanukovych’s words and actions on the issue were “moving further and further apart.”

Ukraine’s arguments in favor of better terms than those agreed to earlier this year have “no grounds in reality,” Fule wrote.

Still, Elmar Brok, a member of the European Parliament, told the crowd in Kiev, “The door for Ukraine to Europe is open.”

Opposition leaders are concerned that if Yanukovych signs an agreement on Ukraine’s eventual membership in Russia’s Eurasian Customs Union, that would remove the possibility of a pact with the E.U.

“If the agreement is signed, he can remain in Moscow and not return to Kiev,” Arseniy Yatsenyuk, head of the Fatherland party, said from the stage here Sunday.

Demonstrators have turned out for three weeks in the encampment on Independence Square, expanding the scope of their protest to denounce police violence and political corruption. The protesters insist that they will not leave until Yanukovych is booted out of office. But it is unclear which side in the fight for Ukraine’s future has more stamina and resolve.

The government is “expecting cold weather to break people’s spirits,” said Yakov Hutsul, 29, who runs an air-conditioning business in Ternopil, in western Ukraine. “But we’ll be here. Cold weather is not the main evil we’re contending with. There is no way back.”

With the temperature hovering around freezing, Sunday’s turnout appeared to be somewhat smaller than a huge rally a week earlier, but news agencies estimated that it still drew about 200,000 people, bedecked in hats, scarves and Ukrainian flags.

A smaller rally of about 15,000 people, also arrayed in Ukrainian flag paraphernalia, showed its support for Yanukovych in a hilltop park near the parliament building. “We’re here so this can all end peacefully,” said Lyudmila Akhmedzhanova, 50, a teacher who, unusually for a Yanukovych supporter, comes from western Ukraine. “And we’re here for the European Union.”

She said that she was not opposed to an eventual alliance with the European Union but that now was not the time. “We’re supporting Yanukovych because we need to wait a little,” Akhmedzhanova said. “With time, we can come to a European level.”

At promptly 4 p.m., the Yanukovych backers dispersed. “These are all bureaucrats,” said Bogdan Vuyko, 57, who lives in Sevastopol and came to observe both camps. Most of the pro-government demonstrators were not from Kiev, he said. “They have to get home and get to work tomorrow.”

Vuyko said some of his friends had been pressed by Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, which organized the pro-government rally, into attending. “Nobody’s actually listening to the speakers,” he said.

The square where the protest against Yanukovych is rooted, known to all simply as “the Maidan,” has taken a central place in the lives of some Kievans. “When I wake up and turn on the radio and hear that the Maidan is still alive,” said Yelena Gorlocheva, 51, “I know I can get up and make myself a coffee.”

Solid lines of police vehicles and heavily armored officers separated the two rallies Sunday. No serious incidents were reported.

Kateryna Bondar, 22, part of the anti-government demonstration, said Yanukovych’s suspension of four officials Saturday for their involvement in a police raid against protesters was an insufficient step. She said that even if he fired the prime minister, Mykola Azarov, that still wouldn’t be enough.

“He has to take first responsibility,” she said. “There’s nothing he can do to save himself. Firing others is a sign of cowardice.”

She said the protest would continue until Yanukovych is gone.

“You are making history,” Murphy, the senator, told the crowd. “If you are successful, the United States will stand with you every step of the way.”

McCain commended veterans of the Soviet war in Afghanistan who have been helping to defend the protest site. “Ukraine will make Europe better,” he said, “and Europe will make Ukraine better.”

He then quoted the 19th-century Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko: “Love your Ukraine, love her in cruel times, love her in cruel moments, pray to God for her.”

据美国《华盛顿邮报》12月16日报道，当地时间15日，两位美国参议员在乌克兰首都基辅发表演讲，明确告知台下数万名反对派示威者“乌克兰的未来在西方，而不是东方”。由此，乌克兰当局面临的压力倍增，它必须尽快给出“向西还是往东”这道单选题的答案。

***美国支持乌克兰“向西”

15日，驻守在基辅独立广场的反对派示威者迎来两位特殊的“远方来客”——美国参议员约翰·麦凯恩和克里斯托弗·墨菲。他们发表演讲，公开阐明美国支持乌克兰融入欧盟一体化进程的立场。

“我们来这里是为了支持你们的正义事业：自由、独立地决定

为了让自己的话语激起更多共鸣，麦凯恩还引用了19世纪乌克兰诗人塔拉斯·舍甫琴科的名句：“热爱你的乌克兰，在野蛮的时代爱她，在残酷的时刻爱她，在上帝面前为她祈祷。”

而站在一旁的墨菲也补充道：“乌克兰的未来在欧洲，美国支持乌克兰作出这一选择……你们正在创造历史！”

***乌克兰当局倾向“往东”？

尽管两位“美国代表”的演讲赢得现场反对派示威者的喝彩和支持，但乌克兰当局似乎打算冲破阻挠、“往东”参与俄罗斯主导的欧亚关税同盟。

15日深夜，乌克兰总理尼古拉·阿扎罗夫作客该国一档电视访谈节目，他表示乌克兰和俄罗斯计划在17日举行的乌俄国家委员会会议上通过一个路线图以改善两国贸易关系。除此之外，乌克兰还希望与欧盟和俄罗斯就成立三边财团来管理乌克兰输气系统重启谈判。

“我们希望重启有欧盟参与的三边谈判，从而为天然气输送和天然气运输系统管理提供透明的条件。”尽管谋求改善乌俄贸易关系，但阿扎罗夫否认乌克兰倾向于加入欧亚关税同盟，“这些都是猜测。我们准备的文件中，全部与加入关税同盟无关”。

15日，欧盟扩大事务专员斯蒂凡·菲莱发微博称，已暂停就吸收乌克兰加入欧盟一体化进程的谈判，而原因就是“

由此，分析人士认为，欧盟能否与亚努科维奇及其政府达成协议“实在很令人怀疑”。

***斗争双方需“比拼”耐力

15日，麦凯恩和墨菲以及欧洲政客向反对派示威者承诺，假若乌克兰警方暴力对待示威者，美国和欧洲国家政府将考虑对涉事的乌克兰官员进行个人金融制裁。

“亚努科维奇背负的压力瞬间增加。”《华盛顿邮报》指出，基辅独立广场的反对派抗议活动已持续了三周，示威者誓言除非亚努科维奇下台否则绝不离开，“但目前还不清楚，究竟哪一方更有耐力和决心？”

目前，基辅的气温已降至零下，反对派示威者略有缩减，但据当地资讯机构的估计，仍有大约20万人还在坚守。“政府希望严寒会打击人们的士气，但我们仍会守在这里，我们没有退路，”29岁的雅科夫·胡图苏尔说。