Estonia Prime Minister: Evidence Shows Maidan Leaders Behind Snipers in Kiev

Estonia Prime Minister: Evidence Shows Maidan Leaders Behind Snipers in Kiev

A leaked phone conversation between Estonia Foreign Minister Umas Paet and European Union Foreign Affairs Chief Catherine Ashton indicates there is evidence Maidan leaders in Kiev, Ukraine were behind the snipers who shot at unarmed protesters.

“There is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers, it was not Yanukovich, but it was somebody from the new coalition,” Urmas Paet said during the conversation.

“I think we do want to investigate. I mean, I didn’t pick that up, that’s interesting. Gosh,” Baroness Ashton answered.

He said people are suspicious because the new government is not taking action to investigate the snipers, which killed and injured many unarmed protesters.

Paet told Ashton the people have many trust issues with the new leaders of Ukraine and they will not leave the streets until they see actual reforms. The new government is not enough. 

***UPDATE 12:32PM

Olga Bogomolets, the doctor Paet mentions in the phone call, told The Telegraph she does not share Paet’s feelings on the situation.

Olga Bogomolets said she had not told Mr Paet that policemen and protesters had been killed in the same manner.

“Myself I saw only protesters. I do not know the type of wounds suffered by military people,” she told The Telegraph. “I have no access to those people.”

But she said she had asked for a full forensic criminal investigation into the deaths that occurred in the Maidan. “No one who just sees the wounds when treating the victims can make a determination about the type of weapons. I hope international experts and Ukrainian investigators will make a determination of what type of weapons, who was involved in the killings and how it was done. I have no data to prove anything.

“I was a doctor helping to save people on the square. There were 15 people killed on the first day by snipers. They were shot directly to the heart, brain and arteries. There were more than 40 the next day, 12 of them died in my arms.

“Our nation has to ask the question who were the killers, who asked them to come to Ukraine. We need good answers on the basis of expertise.”

Mr Paet’s assertion that an opposition figure was behind the Maidan massacre was not one she could share.

“I think you can only say something like this on the basis of fact,” she said. “Its not correct and its not good to do this. It should be based on fact.”

She said the new government in Kiev had assured her a criminal investigation had begun but that she had not direct contact with it so far.

“They told me they have begun a criminal process and if they say that I believe them. The police have not given me any information on it.”

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.