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EU Envoy Holds Talks In Kyiv Amid Ongoing Protests

December 10, 2013
by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has held talks with President Viktor Yanukovych in Kyiv in an effort to defuse the political crisis.

Her spokeswoman, Maja Kocijancic, said on Twitter that Ashton held a 3 and 1/2 hour 'substantial' meeting with Yanukovych during which 'all relevant issues' were discussed. She gave no further details.

After her talks with Yanukovych, Ashton visited Kyiv's Independence Square, the center of nearly three weeks of pro-EU protests. She was accompanied by Arseniy Yatsenyuk from the opposition Batkivshchyna party.

Ashton was holding talks with opposition leaders later on December 10.

Thousands of protesters have been out in the streets of Kyiv for nearly three weeks, angry with Yanukovych's last-moment decision to postpone the signing of the long-awaited agreement with the European Union. The decision was taken under apparent pressure from Russia, which has threatened trade repercussions if the deal was signed.

Yanukovych said on December 10 that Ukraine will continue to seek closer ties with the EU but must also 'restore its normal trade ties with Russia.'

'I am strongly against opposing relations with Europe in favor of relations with Russia and vice versa. We need to find a way to reunite,' Yanukovych said.

'I think Europe will sleep peacefully in warmth if Ukraine has good relations with Russia, if there are no such conflicts like when we were shut off from gas. This is unacceptable, so we need to protect our own interests.'

New Plan

He also said a senior Ukrainian delegation will 'probably' fly to Brussels on December 11 and ordered his government to outline a plan before the Ukraine-EU summit in March that would 'minimize economic risks for Ukraine' in the signing of an EU Association Agreement.

Earlied on December 10, Yanukovych met with three Ukrainian former presidents -- Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma, and Viktor Yushchenko -- to try to find a political solution.

In comments broadcast on national television, Yanukovych said that he had asked the prosecutor-general to seek a way to release some of the demonstrators who were arrested during clashes with police last week.

But he also said that 'calls for a revolution pose a threat to national security.'

Police moved protesters away from government buildings on December 9 after a weeklong blockade but pro-EU demonstrators are still occupying Independence Square in the center of Kyiv and the city hall.

The pro-European protests culminated on December 8 with hundreds of thousands demonstrating in Kyiv and with the toppling of a statue of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union.

With reporting by Reuters and AP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine- protests-kyiv-talks/25195471.html

Copyright (c) 2013. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.