Update: 2014 March 05 4:30 PM est
News Source: Russia Today
The snipers who
shot at protesters and police in Kiev were allegedly hired by Maidan leaders,
according to a leaked phone conversation between the EU foreign affairs chief
Catherine Ashton and Estonian foreign affairs minister, which has emerged
online.
Full Phone Conversation Between Urmas Paet & Catherine Ashton
Video Source
“There is now stronger and stronger
understanding that behind the snipers, it was not Yanukovich, but it was
somebody from the new coalition,” Paet said during the conversation.
“I think we do want to investigate. I mean, I
didn’t pick that up, that’s interesting. Gosh,” Ashton answered.
The call took
place after Estonia’s Foreign Minister Urmas Paet visited Kiev on February 25
at the peak of clashes between the pro-EU protesters and security forces in the
Ukrainian capital.
Paet also
recalled his conversation with a doctor who treated those shot by snipers in
Kiev. She said that both protesters and police were shot at by the same people.
“And second, what was quite disturbing, this same Olga
[Bogomolets] told as well that all the evidence shows that the people who were
killed by snipers from both sides, among policemen and then people from the
streets, that they were the same snipers killing people from both sides,” the Estonian FM stressed.
Ashton reacted to
the information by saying: “Well, yeah…that’s, that’s terrible.”
“So that she then also showed me some photos she said
that as a medical doctor she can say that it is the same handwriting, the same
type of bullets, and it’s really disturbing that now the new coalition, that
they don’t want to investigate what exactly happened,” Paet said.
The Estonian FM
has described the whole sniper issue as “disturbing” and added, “it already discredits
from the very beginning” the new Ukrainian power.
His overall impressions of what he saw during his one-day trip to Kiev are “sad,” Paet said during the conversation.
He stressed that the Ukrainian people don’t trust the Maidan leaders, with all the opposition politicians slated to join the new government “having dirty past.”
His overall impressions of what he saw during his one-day trip to Kiev are “sad,” Paet said during the conversation.
He stressed that the Ukrainian people don’t trust the Maidan leaders, with all the opposition politicians slated to join the new government “having dirty past.”
The file was
reportedly uploaded to the web by officers of Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)
loyal to ousted President Viktor Yanukovich who hacked Paet’s and Ashton’s
phones.
-------------------------------------------
Estonian Foreign Ministry confirms authenticity of leaked call on Kiev snipers
Source: Russia Today
Estonian foreign ministry has confirmed the recording of
his conversation with EU foreign policy chief is authentic. Urmas Paet said
that snipers who shot at protesters and police in Kiev were hired by Maidan
leaders.
Paet told RIA-Novosti news agency that he talked to Catherine Ashton last week right after retiring from Kiev, but
refrained from further comments, saying that he has to “listen to the tape
first.”
“It’s very disappointing that such
surveillance took place altogether. It’s not a coincidence that this
conversation was uploaded [to the web] today,” he stressed.
“My conversation with Ashton took place last
week right after I returned from Kiev. At that time I was already in Estonia,” Paet added.
Paet also gave a press conference about the leaked tape
on Wednesday, saying that the dramatic events in Kiev, which resulted in people
being killed, must become the subject of an independent investigation.
The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a
statement on its website, saying that the recording of the leaked telephone
conversation between Paet and Ashton is “authentic.”
The phone call took place on February 26 after Estonia’s FM returned from his visit to Ukraine, which took place soon after the end of street violence in Kiev, the ministry added.
“We reject the claim that Paet was giving an assessment of the opposition’s involvement in the violence," the statement stressed, adding that the FM was only providing an overview of what he had heard during his Kiev visit.
RT has contacted Ashton’s spokesperson, Maja Kocijancic,
who said “we don’t comment on leaked phone conversations.”
The US government declined to comment on the leaked phone
conversation between EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and the Estonian
foreign affairs minister.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said she had nothing to say on the
issue, ITAR-TASS reported. However, she did accuse Russia of leaking the tape,
stating that “this was another example of how the Russians work.”
The call took place after Estonia’s Foreign Minister
Urmas Paet visited Kiev on February 25, following the peak of clashes between
the pro-EU protesters and security forces in the Ukrainian capital.
Anti-government protesters take cover as
they are under fire reportedly of police sniper during clashes police in the
center of Kiev on February 20, 2014.(AFP Photo / Sergei Supinsky)
It was reportedly uploaded to the web by officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) loyal to ousted President Viktor Yanukovich who hacked Paet’s and Ashton’s phones.
During the conversation, Paet stressed that “there is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers, it was not Yanukovich, but it was somebody from the new coalition.”
According to the Estonian FM, “all the evidence shows”that the “same snipers” at Maidan were shooting at people from both sides – the police and the protesters.
Ashton reacted to the information by saying: “Well, yeah…that’s, that’s terrible,” adding that the matter is worth investigating.
94 people were killed and another 900 injured during the standoff between police and protesters at Maidan Saquare in Kiev last month.
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