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Heated discussions held on Ukraine as a part of 12th Eurasian Media Forum in Astana

25 April 2014 13:03 (UTC +04:00)

Astana. Javid Ismayil – APA. The 12th Eurasian Media Forum has continued its work today in Astana.

APA’s correspondent in Astana reports that the first panel of today’s event held at the Palace of Independence was devoted to the events in Ukraine.

The panel on “Ukraine crisis. Which way will the Ukrainian people choose?” was moderated by the presenter of Russian ORT TV channel Maxim Shevchenko. Speakers of the panel were leader of Georgian Industrialists Party Levan Pirveli, Canada’s former Ambassador to Russia Jeremy Kinsman, Deputy Editor of “Ekho Moskvy” radio station Vladimir Varfolomeyev, director of Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies (CEAS) Jelena MiliÄ‡, former Deputy Secretary General of NATO Alessandro Minuto-Rizzo (Italy) and Director of the Institute of CIS Countries Konstantin Zatulin.

M. Shevchenko opened the discussions and said the criminal government holds the power in Ukraine: “I’m ethnic Ukrainian, was born in Moscow and I consider myself Russian”.

Recalling latest periods of Yugoslavia, Jelena MiliÄ‡ compared Russian President Vladimir Putin with Serbian dictator Slobodan Miloshevich: “When people ask me the difference between Putin and Miloshevich, I say the only difference is 20 years”.

Jeremy Kinsman noted Ukrainians tired of 23-year corrupt government: “Today’s events are result of this. However, I’ don’t believe the results of referendum in Crimea. Putin lays down the foundation of collapse of Russia encroaching on Ukraine. I’m ashamed on what the Kremlin is doing in Ukraine, Putin also should be ashamed”.

Varfolomeyev said that he has been engaged in journalism for 20 years and during that time he didn’t hear any fact on violation of the rights of Russian-speaking population: “99 percent of the talks about the violation of Russian-speaking people’s rights in Ukraine are fiction. I apologize to the Ukrainian people for what is happening now.”

Zatulin gave an example on the violation of the Russian-speaking people’s rights in Crimea: “You can see that all in Kazakhstan is written in three languages – Kazakh, Russian and English, but in Crimea in two languages – Ukrainian and English.”

Anti-Ukrainian speech of Shevchenko and Zatulin caused serious discontent among panel speakers and Ukrainian journalists. Therefore, the discussions were held in a very tense atmosphere.

The forum will end today.

Azerbaijan is being represented by APA Holding and AzerTAc Information Agency in the forum with the support of Japan Tobacco International Co.