DEC 15th 2013 John McCain tells Ukraine protesters: 'We are here to support your just cause'

DEC 15th 2013
John McCain tells Ukraine protesters: 'We are here to support your just cause'


John McCain in Kiev Senator John McCain, center, greets well-wishers in Independence Square in Kiev. Photograph: Sergei Chuzavkov/AP

Senator John McCain on Sunday told thousands of Ukrainian protesters camped on Kiev's main square that Ukraine's destiny lay in Europe and that it would make Europe better.

"Ukraine will make Europe better and Europe will make Ukraine better," he said to crowds protesting against President Viktor Yanukovich's U-turn in trade policy away from Europe towards Russia.

"We are here to support your just cause, the sovereign right of Ukraine to determine its own destiny freely and independently. And the destiny you seek lies in Europe," said McCain, a leading Republican voice on US foreign policy.

The presence of McCain at the anti-government rally after a weeks-long stand-off between demonstrators and the authorities further highlighted the geo-political East-West tug-of-war which Ukraine is once again at the centre of. Politicians from Berlin and Brussels have paid morale-boosting trips to the square, drawing denunciation from the Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, for "crude" meddling in Ukraine's affairs.


[link to www.theguardian.com]