Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 25, 2014, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A10 A 10 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2014 UKRAINE UNREST winnipegfreepress. com OTTAWA - Justin Trudeau was absent from the House of Commons on Monday as the Ukrainian ambassador demanded an apology for the Liberal leader's flippant remark about the crisis in Ukraine while Conservatives and the NDP pounced. The day after the Liberal leader was criticized for failing to make himself available to the media at the end of the Liberal party's weekend policy convention, Trudeau had no public events scheduled and didn't appear for question period. That left Liberal MP Marc Garneau charged with defending Trudeau for his recent comments on Ukraine during a pre- taped appearance on Radio Canada's Tout le Monde en Parle , a humour- infused current- affairs program. Trudeau linked the upheaval in Ukraine to Russia's Olympic hockey woes during his appearance. Garneau accused Conservatives of " trying to take advantage of this for cheap partisan reasons." Trudeau is consistently ahead of the Tories and the NDP in public opinion polls. " If you look at the entire transcript, you'll see that Justin Trudeau spoke very seriously about the situation in Ukraine, and anyone who's been on Tout Le Monde En Parle knows what kind of show it is," he said. He added in a post- question period scrum: " I smell fear" while asserting he didn't believe Trudeau had anything to apologize for. Garneau also noted Liberal delegates at the convention passed an emergency resolution calling for support for a transition to democracy in Ukraine. The resolution also called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper not to allow any foreign power to interfere with the will of the Ukrainian people. Nonetheless the Ukrainian ambassador to Canada called on Trudeau to apologize. " You have to be extremely careful when you talk about 82 people who died fighting... for their future and everyone's in danger," Vadym Prystaiko said on CTV's Power Play . " You're just sitting in a nice room, and you're talking about things in such a light manner; it's inappropriate." When asked if Trudeau would issue an apology, his office referred the media to Garneau's comments. The brouhaha prompted a handful of Tory cabinet ministers - as well as NDP Leader Tom Mulcair - to take renewed aim at Trudeau. " So Justin Trudeau, whose favourite regime is ' the basic dictatorship of China,' thinks the deadly crisis in Ukraine is a laughing matter," Employment Minister Jason Kenney wrote in a tweet. Industry Minister James Moore also took to Twitter to draw attention to Trudeau's joke. Citizenship Minister Chris Alexander mocked Trudeau in a statement to the media outside the Commons. " Trudeau apparently thinks the situation is Ukraine is something to joke about," he said. " We don't and we are concerned that there is not just one statement of this quality, there's a pattern here of support for communist dictatorship, of belief in ... budgets balancing themselves and now of whimsical comments, offensive comments about Ukraine's future based on the result of a hockey game in Sochi." - The Canadian Press S EVASTOPOL, Ukraine - With Viktor Yanukovych on the run, Ukraine's interim government drew up a warrant Monday for the fugitive president's arrest in the killing of anti- government protesters last week, while Russia issued its strongest condemnation yet of the new leaders in Kyiv, deriding them as " Kalashnikov- toting people in black masks." Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Turchinov, the interim president, moved quickly to open a dialogue with the West, saying at a meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton the course toward closer integration with Europe and financial assistance from the EU were " key factors of stable and democratic development of Ukraine." In a statement released by his office, Turchinov said Ukraine and the EU should immediately revisit the closer ties Yanukovych abandoned in November in favour of a $ 15- billion bailout loan from Russia that set off a wave of protests. Within weeks, the protests expanded to include outrage over corruption and human rights abuses, leading to calls for Yanukovych's resignation. Yanukovych, who fled Kyiv on Saturday after the opposition took over government buildings, has reportedly gone to the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, a pro- Russia area. Calls are mounting in Ukraine to put Yanukovych on trial after a tumultuous presidency in which he amassed powers, enriched his allies and family and cracked down on protesters. Anger boiled over last week after 82 people, primarily demonstrators, were killed in clashes with security forces in the bloodiest violence in Ukraine's post- Soviet history. Acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakhov said on his official Facebook page a warrant has been issued for the arrest of Yanukovych and several other officials for the " mass killing of civilians." Yanukovych's last public appearance was in a televised interview Saturday from Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, a base of his support, where he insisted he was still president and would not leave the country. He then tried to fly out of Donetsk but was stopped and went to Crimea on Sunday, Avakhov said. There, Yanukovych freed his official security detail from its duties and drove to an unknown location, turning off all forms of communication, Avakhov said. " Yanukovych has disappeared," he added. Security has been tightened across Ukraine's borders, the Interfax news agency quoted the State Border Guard service as saying. Activist Valeri Kazachenko said Yanukovych must be arrested and brought to trial. " He must answer for all the crimes he has committed against Ukraine and its people," he said, as thousands continued to flock to Independence Square to light candles, lay flowers where dozens were killed and watch a video screen showing photos of the dead. " Yanukovych must be tried by the court of the people right here in the square." Turchinov, the parliament Speaker, is now nominally in charge of this strategic country of 46 million whose ailing economy faces the risk of default and whose loyalties are sharply torn between Europe and longtime ruler Russia. He said he hopes to form a new coalition government by today. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev strongly condemned the new authorities, saying they came to power as a result of an " armed mutiny" and their legitimacy is causing " big doubts." Medvedev wouldn't say what action Russia might take to protect its interests. " If you consider Kalashnikov- toting people in black masks who are roaming Kyiv to be the government, then it will be hard for us to work with that government," Medvedev said. The Russian Foreign Ministry criticized the West for turning a blind eye to what Moscow described as the opposition reneging on an agreement signed Friday to form a unity government and aiming to " suppress dissent in various regions of Ukraine with dictatorial and, sometimes, even terrorist methods." Although Russia has questioned the new government's legitimacy, European Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly referred to Turchinov as the " interim president." NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, Gen. Philip Breedlove, discussed Ukraine with Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of Russia's armed forces, and they agreed to keep each other informed about developments in the country. - The Associated Press OTTAWA - The Harper government left the threat of sanctions against Russia on the table if it interferes in Ukraine, even as federal politicians in Ottawa reacted Monday to the convulsive events there with domestic political mud- slinging. The possibility of Canadian sanctions against Russia was first raised Sunday by Immigration Minister Chris Alexander on CTV's Question Period . A day later, Alexander appeared to play down speculation about Canadian sanctions on Russia when he fielded questions from reporters on Parliament Hill, but a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird did not. " We're not going to comment on hypothetical scenarios. We want to keep this door toward a return to legitimate institutions, democratic institutions in Ukraine open and we know that that has to be done," Alexander said Monday. A day earlier, Alexander told CTV " sanctions and other, and other measures potentially, as well" would be on the table if Russia intervened. Asked Monday, about those remarks Alexander explained that, " I was asked repeatedly by ( the interviewer) ' what if, what if, what if'." A written statement from Baird issued earlier Monday made no mention of sanctions against Russia. However, when asked specifically whether they were a possibility, Baird's spokesman Adam Hodge replied in an email: " All options are on the table." He did not elaborate. Tensions between the West and Russia continued to run high Monday after Ukrainian authorities replaced their Russian- leaning ex- president Viktor Yanukovych, who fled the capital Kyiv on Friday. Baird, who was in Australia on an official visit Monday, issued a written statement that welcomed Oleksander Turchinov as Ukraine's acting president. " The Ukrainian parliament acted legitimately in naming Speaker Turchinov as acting president pending the May 25 elections, and Canada welcomes his interim appointment during this important transition period," said Baird's statement. " The next critical juncture will be the Ukrainian parliament's vote to establish a new government under the leadership of a new prime minister, in accordance with the constitution passed on Feb. 22." In the House of Commons, Ukraine's turmoil of the last week that has left more than 70 dead and hundreds injured became the fodder for domestic political bickering. " Twice in 10 years, the people of the Ukraine have risen en masse against political tyranny, interference by the Russian bear, and Soviet- style thuggery," harrumphed Conservative MP Peter Goldring in a member's statement. " Yanukovych, this time, murderously outdid his despotic past." Liberal foreign affairs critic Marc Garneau called on the Harper government to send 500 Canadian election observers to the next Ukraine election and " to make it clear to any foreign power not to interfere with the will of the Ukrainian people." NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar sparred with Baird's stand- in, parliamentary secretary David Anderson, when he called on Harper to send a " high- level" delegation to help Ukraine's political transition. Anderson blasted Dewar for previously criticizing Baird for joining protesters in the streets of Kyiv, asking: " Will the NDP members tell us today which side they stand on?" - The Canadian Press SCAN TO SEE THE VIDEO Trudeau skips House after glib remark Ukraine's ambassador demands apology By Lee- Anne Goodman By Mike Blanchfield Canada won't rule out Russia sanctions WATERFIGHT V I DE O AT - 40 The whole story... AND MORE Use Blippar. There's more to the story above embedded in this page. Justin Trudeau Arrest warrant issued for Yanukovych Cites killings of protesters; Russia rips new government By Yuras Karmanau and Maria Danilova MARKO DROBNJAKOVIC / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A portrait of ex- Ukraine president Viktor Yanukovych is used for darts at Independence Square in Kyiv. EFREM LUKATSKY / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS People lay flowers as tributes to the dead on one of the streets leading to Independence Square in Kyiv Monday. ' All options are on the table' - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird spokesman Adam Hodge A_ 10_ Feb- 25- 14_ FP_ 01. indd A10 2/ 24/ 14 10: 27: 45 PM ;