Ukraine Protest Leaders Refuse Talks
by VOA News December 11, 2013
Ukrainian protest leaders on Wednesday said they would not hold talks with President Viktor Yanukovych until their demands, including that he resign, were met.
Oleh Tyahnybok called an invitation earlier by Yanukovych to dialogue 'a farce and a comedy.' He and fellow protest leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk said they would not hold talks with the president to end a political crisis after more than two weeks of protests until their demands had been met..
Opposition leaders are calling for Yanukovych and his government to resign, for the release of what they say are political prisoners and for riot police suspected of violence against protesters to be punished.
Earlier Wednesday, security forces pulled back from a protest camp around a central square in Ukraine's capital after clashes between police and pro-European Union demonstrators.
Scuffles between the two groups took place early Wednesday inside Kyiv's city hall, as police wielding batons tried to drive protesters out of the building.
Reports say the protesters fought back by spraying water from fire hoses at the security forces. Police buses were later reported to be leaving the area.
Hours earlier, security agents stormed a protest encampment in the square and ripped down a tent city erected by the demonstrators.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, who spoke to protesters in Kyiv's Independence Square Wednesday, said she complained to Yanukovych about the police use of force.
'I made it absolutely clear to him that what happened last night, what has been happening in security terms here is absolutely impermissible in a European state, in a democratic state.'
Ukraine's interior ministry later called for calm and said there would be no dispersal of demonstrators in the square.
Opposition leader Vitaliy Klitschko said however that the recent police actions make negotiations with Yanukovych impossible.
The protests began in late November, after the Ukrainian president backed away from a long-anticipated trade deal with the European Union, in favor of repairing and improving economic and political ties with Russia.
On Wednesday Ukraine's Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said Ukraine is requesting $27.5 billion in financial assistance from the European Union before it signs an association agreement with the 28-nation bloc.
Azarov said Ukraine is inviting the European Commission to consider under what conditions Ukraine's industry and economy will work.
Both European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland arrived in Kyiv Tuesday to meet with senior government and opposition leaders in a push to ease the crisis.
Ashton, who met with the Ukrainian leader for a second day of talks Wednesday, also condemned the crackdown on demonstrators.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych met with three former Ukrainian presidents, launching so-called round table talks reportedly aimed at the same objective.
In a nationally televised address following his meeting with his predecessors, Mr. Yanukovych called for the release of protesters arrested after a violent police crackdown November 30. He said good relations with both Russia and the European Union are necessary to protect the country's interests.
Moscow is seeking to form a trade bloc of former Soviet republics and satellite countries to rival the European Union, and has in recent months exerted strong economic pressure on its impoverished neighbor to scuttle the EU deal.
Earlier this year, it imposed restrictions on goods from Ukraine, cutting Ukrainian exports by 25 percent and dragging the country into recession.
Russia is Ukraine's largest foreign investor, trading partner and chief natural gas supplier. Moscow is reported to be dangling a deal with Ukraine that includes a $9 billion annual discount on gas pipeline shipments.
Analysts say Kyiv, which has also secured recent investment deals with China, still needs about $18 billion in outside help to pay government debt and meet energy payments to Russia by early 2014.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
