> QUESTION: So I don’t know whether you heard that, Victoria, but Nikonov, the member of Parliament, saying that you had spoken for about five billion dollars for democracy, and they see that as a code word for “regime change.”
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> ASSISTANT SECRETARY NULAND: I didn’t hear Mister Nikonov speaking. The United States has invested some five billion dollars in Ukraine since 1991 when it became an independent state again after the collapse of the Soviet Union. And that money has been spent on supporting the aspirations of the Ukrainian people to have a strong, democratic government that represents their interests. But we certainly didn’t spend any money supporting the Maidan; that was a spontaneous movement, which is a far cry from what we are concerned Russia is up to now in eastern Ukraine. And with regard to the day on the Maidan when I was present, that visit happened the night after the Ukrainian special forces under then-President Yanukovych moved against peaceful demonstrators, and began pushing and shoving them off the Maidan, and it was a very scary and dangerous night. They ultimately had to pull back when more peaceful protestors came and surrounded them, and the next day, when I went to visit Maidan, I didn’t think I could go down empty-handed, given what everybody had been through. So as a sign, a gesture of peace, I brought sandwiches to both the Maidan protestors, and to the Berkut soldiers.
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> http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/text...
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