EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso expressed Wednesday “shock and utter dismay” predicting that immediate sanctions from the EU will be imposed. EU foreign ministers will have an emergency meeting in Brussels on Thursday afternoon.“We have (…)made it clear that the EU will respond to any deterioration on the ground”, said Barroso. The United States, by Vice President Joe Biden condemned violence by all parties and made clear that the government of the Ukraine has “special responsibility” to de-escalate the situation.” Germany indicated that “Yanukovych clearly bears responsibility for the escalation of violence”, appreciating the high number of victims as “terrible. French President Francois Hollande expressed the conviction that “everything must be done to stop the violence.” Sweden, Poland and Denmark expressed the idea of necessary sanctions against Ukraine’s government. Other nations reacted in a similar mode. So far, Russia maintained the conviction that "what is happening is a direct result of the conniving politics of Western politicians and European bodies", as the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
