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[Sheb]

Are airmobile units in Ukraine some kind of elite units like in France ?

[Sergarr]

In Russia these airmobile units are called "VDV" and they are considered to be pretty elite.

[Owlbread]

In Russia these airmobile units are called "VDV" and they are considered to be pretty elite.

Airborne is what we would call them. Paratroopers.

[Sergarr]

Now I imagine a thousand parachutes over the Maidan.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

To be precise This and This are ordered to move to Kiyv

I am still hoping that they will not follow criminal orders. They participated in peacekeeping missions, they had joint exercises with NATO forces
But I hoped that majority of police will not follow such orders, too.  So I am not optimistic at all....

[XXSockXX]

Poland's Foreign Minister Sikorski is going to travel to Kiev for negotiations. The EU Foreign Ministers are also going to meet to talk about Ukraine. The EU still does not have a coherent position. There are more politicians demanding sanctions now, but from what I've seen we're still talking about sanctions against individuals in the government. Economic sanctions are seen with scepticism, because there are fears Ukraine might go bankrupt.
Ex-Chancellor Schröder was urged to mediate (he's best buddies with Putin), but he recommended UN mediation instead, because the EU wasn't impartial enough anymore due to their support for the opposition (Klitschko was meeting with Merkel again last week for example).
Something like that seems to be behind the indecisiveness of the EU as a whole, they want to support the protests while still being able to negotiate with the government.

[Sheb]

Indecisiveness is the EU's basic stance. It's hard to make 28 Foreign Ministers agree on anything. Anyway, Belgium, France, Poland and Sweden have called for EU sanctions now. Notably, Sweden's Foreign minister is Carl Bildt, probably the best-respected diplomat in the whole of the EU.

[XXSockXX]

Yeah, Bildt is one of the more outspoken ones, judging by his tweets. Also Czech President Zeman has demanded new elections in Ukraine.
It looks like they are going to issue sanctions tomorrow, but these will most likely be just some visa-restrictions and freezing of bank accounts for high-ranking officials. So if these guys don't have a lot of money sitting in EU banks, this is not going to do all that much.

[Sheb]

Those kind of sanctions can be surprisingly effective given the sheer amount of cash Oligarchs have in place like London. It could turn them against the regime.

[XXSockXX]

Sure, it's just a question of whether any oligarchs are going to be hit with the sanctions. All I have heard is about sanctions against "those responsible" for the violence, which implies government officials. There have been reports about powerful oligarchs withdrawing their support for the government, but apparently it's not enough do change anything yet.

I still hope that the government will avoid a full-out escalation though, because it's bad for business. They should have some basic sense of self-preservation.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

They should have some basic sense of self-preservation.

Exactly
They have two choices
a) Lose  everything and go to the jail (or get hanged)
b) Lose access to Europe and some money.

It's too late for any sanctions. Time for humanitarian aid. Syria is almost there.
Only this time Russia will support the dictator even more and that will be near EU's borders.
Time to get very deeply concerned

[XXSockXX]

They seem to be playing with escalation indeed. Secret Service is going to launch a nation-wide anti-terror operation and the police is going to try to clear Maidan again this evening. So that's not good.

[Helgoland]

I still dream of International Brigades like in the Spanish Civil War - but it didn't work then, and it won't work now...

(I liked the Schröder bit, by the way - he seems like the right guy for the job. He's probably to chummy with Putin, though :/ )

[scrdest]

I think that if the government SUCCEEDED with suppressing the protests, they would only make a much bigger problem for themselves because if terrorism is going to pop up, it's when there are no other options.

[Sheb]

I don't know. Protests are weird sometime. Remember Gezi? It just went quiet after a while.

I'm seeing lots of bad comments about the protesters being far-right radicals, which is.. true. I think they'd get more support from Europe otherwise.  Nationalism ain't popular in Western Europe.