Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov
has resigned in a bid to ease a deadly
two-month crisis, which has turned the
country into a war zone.
“I have taken a personal decision to ask
the president of Ukraine to accept my
resignation from the post of prime
minister with the aim of creating an
additional possibility for a political
compromise to peacefully resolve the
conflict,” he said in a statement.
His resignation comes as Ukrainian
lawmakers met to debate ways of ending
the crisis after President Viktor
Yanukovych gave in to a key opposition
demand to abolish draconian anti-
protest laws.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will
also fly to Brussels for a summit with EU
leaders dominated by the tensions
shaking Ukraine in its worst political
standoff since independence in 1991.
Opposition leaders meanwhile called for
a new mass rally in Independence
Square – the sprawling camp in freezing
Kiev that has been the epicentre of a
protest movement that started as a pro-
EU campaign.
“There was a political decision to abolish
the January 16 laws that have caused so
much discussion,” the presidency said in
a statement late on Monday after talks
between Yanukovych and the opposition.
The presidency said Yanukovych was also
willing to release scores of protesters
jailed during the clashes but only on
condition that occupied buildings are
vacated and barricades taken down.
Opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a
former foreign minister, meanwhile
turned down the offer of the post of
prime minister put forward by
Yanukovych in earlier negotiations, the
presidency said.
Former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko,
leader of the UDAR (Punch) party, had
already dismissed the prospect of being
deputy prime minister as “a poisonous
offer” aimed at dividing the opposition.
Underlining international concern over
Ukraine, the European Union’s foreign
policy chief Catherine Ashton is due to
fly to Kiev after the EU-Russia summit
in a flurry of diplomacy to end the
standoff.
An extraordinary session of parliament
in Kiev is set to address a list of
opposition demands, including
constitutional reforms to take away some
of Yanukovych’s sweeping powers and
bolster the government’s role.
The session is seen as a make-or-break
moment and there have been reports
that the government is mulling hawkish
action including emergency rule if talks
fail.
But US Vice President Joe Biden called
Yanukovych on Monday and warned him
that “declaring a state of emergency or
enacting other harsh security measures
would further inflame the situation and
close the space for a peaceful
resolution.” The escalating situation has
put the pressure for a speedy resolution
after three protesters were killed during
clashes last week in Kiev, where
hundreds of militants in motorcycle
helmets and wielding baseball bats now
roam the streets.
One key sticking point in the negotiations
between the opposition and Yanukovych
has been the president’s own political
future.
The opposition says it wants him out
before the end of his term next year
and militants are pushing to oust him as
soon as possible.
The protests began in November as a
drive for EU integration after
Yanukovych under Russian pressure
ditched a key deal with the bloc that
had been years in the making.
They have since snowballed into a wider
movement against his rule and have
spread far beyond Kiev to outlying
regions in a country twice the size of
Germany.
Protesters now occupy regional
government headquarters in all but one
region in the west of the country, with
local opposition lawmakers and militants
forming new “People’s Parliaments” to
run their regions.
Protesters now occupy or are blockading
a total of 10 of the 25 regional centres.
Most worryingly for Yanukovych, the
protests have spread into his heartland
in majority Russian-speaking eastern
Ukraine.
has resigned in a bid to ease a deadly
two-month crisis, which has turned the
country into a war zone.
“I have taken a personal decision to ask
the president of Ukraine to accept my
resignation from the post of prime
minister with the aim of creating an
additional possibility for a political
compromise to peacefully resolve the
conflict,” he said in a statement.
His resignation comes as Ukrainian
lawmakers met to debate ways of ending
the crisis after President Viktor
Yanukovych gave in to a key opposition
demand to abolish draconian anti-
protest laws.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will
also fly to Brussels for a summit with EU
leaders dominated by the tensions
shaking Ukraine in its worst political
standoff since independence in 1991.
Opposition leaders meanwhile called for
a new mass rally in Independence
Square – the sprawling camp in freezing
Kiev that has been the epicentre of a
protest movement that started as a pro-
EU campaign.
“There was a political decision to abolish
the January 16 laws that have caused so
much discussion,” the presidency said in
a statement late on Monday after talks
between Yanukovych and the opposition.
The presidency said Yanukovych was also
willing to release scores of protesters
jailed during the clashes but only on
condition that occupied buildings are
vacated and barricades taken down.
Opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a
former foreign minister, meanwhile
turned down the offer of the post of
prime minister put forward by
Yanukovych in earlier negotiations, the
presidency said.
Former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko,
leader of the UDAR (Punch) party, had
already dismissed the prospect of being
deputy prime minister as “a poisonous
offer” aimed at dividing the opposition.
Underlining international concern over
Ukraine, the European Union’s foreign
policy chief Catherine Ashton is due to
fly to Kiev after the EU-Russia summit
in a flurry of diplomacy to end the
standoff.
An extraordinary session of parliament
in Kiev is set to address a list of
opposition demands, including
constitutional reforms to take away some
of Yanukovych’s sweeping powers and
bolster the government’s role.
The session is seen as a make-or-break
moment and there have been reports
that the government is mulling hawkish
action including emergency rule if talks
fail.
But US Vice President Joe Biden called
Yanukovych on Monday and warned him
that “declaring a state of emergency or
enacting other harsh security measures
would further inflame the situation and
close the space for a peaceful
resolution.” The escalating situation has
put the pressure for a speedy resolution
after three protesters were killed during
clashes last week in Kiev, where
hundreds of militants in motorcycle
helmets and wielding baseball bats now
roam the streets.
One key sticking point in the negotiations
between the opposition and Yanukovych
has been the president’s own political
future.
The opposition says it wants him out
before the end of his term next year
and militants are pushing to oust him as
soon as possible.
The protests began in November as a
drive for EU integration after
Yanukovych under Russian pressure
ditched a key deal with the bloc that
had been years in the making.
They have since snowballed into a wider
movement against his rule and have
spread far beyond Kiev to outlying
regions in a country twice the size of
Germany.
Protesters now occupy regional
government headquarters in all but one
region in the west of the country, with
local opposition lawmakers and militants
forming new “People’s Parliaments” to
run their regions.
Protesters now occupy or are blockading
a total of 10 of the 25 regional centres.
Most worryingly for Yanukovych, the
protests have spread into his heartland
in majority Russian-speaking eastern
Ukraine.
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