BBG Watch Commentary
Russia’s RT reported at 17:59 GMT or 11:00 PM EST, about two hours ago, that U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, talked on the phone Ukraine’s Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko, according to the Interior Ministry press-service.
Pyatt said that both sides should stay calm, while the minister gave assurances that the police will refrain from using force, RT reported.
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VOA is still not reporting on the U.S. Ambassador’s talk with the Interior Minister.
But a few hours after RT, BBC, DW and many other international media outlets had posted their reports, a report from a VOA correspondent was finally posted on the VOA English website to indicate that anti-government protesters had left the building of the Justice Ministry in Kyiv. This does not mean that a correspondent was late in filing his report. VOA English website team often takes hours to post correspondent reports and other news items. VOA could have also posted its own news item based on the same information which was available to RT, BBC, DW and others.
[/aside]The Voice of America (VOA) main English website still has nothing on this development. It is showing outdated news reports from Ukraine and not reporting that anti-government protestors had left the Ministry of Justice building in Kyiv. RT, BBC, and Deutsche Welle have already reported that the ministry building is no longer occupied but that it is being blockaded by protestors.
RT reporting:
“Ukraine’s Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko has discussed the political situation in the country on the phone with the US Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, according to the Interior Ministry press-service.
Pyatt stressed that the current government negotiations with the opposition are significant, adding that both sides should stay calm.
In turn, the minister gave assurances that the police will refrain from using force. However, he added that the protesters aren’t meeting this with any concomitant understanding. The situation is complex because there are no negotiators from the opposition he said adding that there are also extremists among the opposition.” “Ukraine unrest timeline,” RT, Jan. 27, 2014.