Duitse minister Buitenlandse Zaken steunt pro-EU-demonstranten Oekraïne (en)

BRUSSELS - German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle has voiced support for Ukrainian protesters in a surprise visit to the Maidan.

His ministry on Wednesday (4 December) published pictures of him strolling next to barricades in the Maidan square in Kiev city centre with opposition leader and champion boxer Vitaly Klitschko.

Westerwelle said in a statement: "We are not indifferent to the fate of Ukraine … You can see from these demonstrations in the streets that the hearts of the people of Ukraine beat for the European Union."

He added: "This is a profoundly European matter that we are observing in Ukraine."

His visit comes after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych caused shock last week by refusing to sign an EU association pact.

EU diplomats were equally shocked by the reaction in Ukraine, when more than half a million people joined pro-EU protests at the weekend.

They still occupy some official buildings in Kiev.

But government promises to rein in riot police, to reshuffle the cabinet and to re-launch talks with Brussels have calmed the atmosphere.

Westerwelle is in Kiev to attend a meeting of the Vienna-based pro-democracy club, the OSCE.

Ukraine sees Germany, unlike France, as a genuine supporter of its EU integration.

But Westerwelle's Maidan moment is likely to annoy Yanukovych.

The Ukrainian leader tried and failed to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the run-up to the EU treaty fiasco. His diplomats have also urged EU politicians not to stir up trouble by encouraging protests.

But the moment could be a passing one.

Westerwelle is set to leave his post by the end of the year and the chatter in Berlin says he is likely to be replaced by the pro-Russia Walter Steinmeier.

For his part, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has also warned the West not to meddle in the Kremlin's sphere of influence.

He said on the margins of a Nato meeting in Brussels on Wednesday: "We encourage everybody not to interfere [in Ukraine]." He added that Yanukovych has a "sovereign right to ratify or not ratify a document [the EU pact]."

Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski has also decided to go to the OSCE event at the last minute.

But EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton i, US secretary of state John Kerry and the British and French foreign ministers are sending deputies.

Kerry on Wednesday went to Chisinau instead of Kiev because Moldova did initial an EU treaty despite Russian threats.

He thanked its leaders for their "courage."

He said: "We are convinced that any country ought to be able to make a choice of where it wants to affiliate … without external pressures."

He also listed the EU and US financial aid which the small country got in recent years, in a hint of more to come.

Financial crisis

He spoke while Yanukovych is on a trip to China amid efforts to get cheap loans or grants from Beijing, Brussels and Moscow in order to prevent a state default.

Ukraine has debt repayments of $17 billion next year, but just $20 billion in foreign currency reserves and the same credit rating as Cyprus or Greece.

The political crisis has seen the Ukrainian hryvnia go down in value.

But some EU diplomats say that a financial crisis could play into Yanukovych's hands.

"He could blame it on the EU and on Russia while making himself rich. In the past few years, we have seen members of his 'familia' buy up Ukrainian industrial assets at rock-bottom prices as the economic situation gets worse," an EU contact said.