Russia blames U.S. for 'trying to dictate solutions' to Ukrainian govt.

PanARMENIAN.Net - A recent statement by a U.S. Department of State official shows that the United States is trying to dictate its own solutions to the Ukrainian government, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said, according to RIA Novosti.

“Once again, we say that the United States is trying to impose the ‘Western vector’ of development on the Ukrainian government under the guise of calls to stop interference into the Ukrainian people’s freedom of choice, and tells the authorities of a sovereign state what they should do next and how they should do it,” spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement Monday, Feb 17.

He said a recent statement by a U.S. State Department spokeswoman “offers numerous instructions for what the Ukrainian government should do next.”

The U.S. State Department’s Marie Harf on Friday welcomed the release of protesters detained during mass anti-government protests under a previously announced amnesty deal.

Harf urged Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his government to halt “all investigations, arrests, detentions and prosecutions against demonstrators and civil society activists,” and said the United States is “gravely concerned” over intimidation of the media and organizations advocating “fundamental democratic principles and good governance” in Ukraine.

“The next step in this process should be the formation of a multiparty technical government, with genuine power-sharing and responsibility, which can earn the confidence of the Ukrainian people and restore political and economic stability to Ukraine,” Harf said.