Ukrainian President Viktor
Yanukovych made a set of offers, on Saturday, in order to end protests against his government.
He offered the prime minister spot to former
economy minister Arseny Yatsenyuk and the deputy prime minister job to former boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko, both of whom are two of the main leaders of the opposition.
In exchange, the president expects all protests to come to an end and all occupied government buildings to be evacuated. Yanukovych also promised to treat all those who had been detained, during the protests, with leniency.
If they do not take his deal, Yanukovych warned that anyone caught protesting would be considered part of an "extremist group" and that police would deal with them harshly.
Under the deal, a new government would be formed, by the opposition, with new parliamentary elections very likely. However, this agreement would leave Yanukovych in power, which might not be acceptable to many of the protesters, since it was anger with him that led to much of the protesting.
The protests began when the president backed away from a deal to join the EU, and instead turned to Russia. Multiple police attempts to clear out Kiev's Independence Square have failed, with injuries mounting since Sunday, and deaths occurring on Wednesday. Many Ukrainians worry that Yanukovych is taking their country back under
Russian influence and fear a loss of their independence from their
former Soviet masters.

No comments:
Post a Comment