Berlin: Germany on Friday summoned the Ukrainian ambassador over Kiev`s response to five days of pro-EU protests in which activists say five people have died in clashes with security forces. "We want to show that we are serious with our criticism," foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer told reporters, after the French government made the same move.
"We expect the ambassador to pass on our message immediately to the Ukrainian government." He added that Germany would stress its objections to draconian anti-protest laws Ukraine passed last week.
"We hope and assume that the government and the opposition have recognised that violence is senseless and that any new escalation with more casualties will not bring about anything good for Ukraine," he said.
"We support the efforts of the European Union to encourage dialogue in Kiev." Schaefer said Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had spoken with his Ukrainian counterpart, Leonid Kozhara, and opposition leader and world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko earlier today.
In the talks with Kozhara, Steinmeier "asked him to stop the use of force against peaceful protesters".
Schaefer later acknowledged that some demonstrators had also engaged in violence and urged both sides to refrain from such acts.
Klitschko took part in emergency talks yesterday with President Viktor Yanukovych that failed to end Ukraine`s worst crisis since its 1991 independence.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by telephone yesterday with Yanukovych and called on him to repeal the legislation barring demonstrations that have fuelled the most recent clashes.
Merkel had told reporters earlier that Ukraine must safeguard the lives of demonstrators but rejected calls for fresh sanctions against Kiev.