page_title: 50th Munich Security Conference
section_title: Euromaidan
hierarchical_section_title: 50th Munich Security Conference / Euromaidan
caption_attribution_description: English: 50th Munich Security Conference 2014: Helmut Schmidt, en:Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Henry Kissinger and Egon Bahr: Helmut Schmidt (Former Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany; Editor, Die Zeit), Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (Former President, French Republic), Henry Kissinger (Former Secretary of State, USA) and Egon Bahr (Former Federal Minister for Special Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany).Deutsch: de:Helmut Schmidt, de:Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, de:Henry Kissinger und de:Egon Bahr
context_page_description: The 50th Munich Security Conference was held from 31 January to 2 February 2014. At the event, more than 400 international guests attended, including 20 Heads of State and Government, 50 foreign and defense ministers and 90 government delegations. Joachim Gauck was the first German Federal President to ever hold the opening speech.
context_section_description: A dominant theme of the conference was the violent clashes between government and opposition in Ukraine. At the Munich Security Conference US Secretary of State John Kerry promised the Ukrainian opposition support from the West. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the Western countries of assisting in the violent uprising in Ukraine which was getting out of control.
  NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on the other hand, accused Russia of violating Ukraine's rights to a free choice of alliances. The Ukrainian politician Vitali Klitschko accused the Ukrainian government during a panel discussion of responding with acts of terror and violence to the demands of the opposition. Klitschko called for economic sanctions against those responsible for the violence. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara dismissed the allegations that his country's political policies were directed against Europe. Since Ukraine is geographically part of Europe and also carries a very close relationship with Russia, Koschara warned, it should not be faced with the decision "Europe or Russia". The Foreign Minister also declared that Ukraine had already met key demands of the opposition. His claims that the violence in Ukraine started from terrorists, was countered by Klitschko by distributing a collection of images of the protests in Ukraine to panel participants and spectators. During the conference Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, started a mediation initiative, inviting members of the Ukrainian parties in conflict and the Foreign Ministers of important EU countries to participate. During the conference, Swiss Federal President Didier Burkhalter, in his capacity as OSCE Chairman, pointed out again an existing offer of mediation of the OSCE to the conflicting parties in the Ukraine. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Leonid Kozhara, Vitali Klychko, Leonid Slutsky, Irakli Garibashvili, Traian Basescu and Štefan Füle participated in a discussion panel regarding the situation in Ukraine.
caption: Panel on the 50th anniversary
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