UKRAINE: Opposition leaders call for an end to President Yanukovich's government and warn of a division of the country
Record ID:
214114
UKRAINE: Opposition leaders call for an end to President Yanukovich's government and warn of a division of the country
- Title: UKRAINE: Opposition leaders call for an end to President Yanukovich's government and warn of a division of the country
- Date: 3rd December 2013
- Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (DECEMBER 3, 2013) (REUTERS) OPPOSITION LEADERS ARSENIY YATSENIUK OF BATKIVSHCHYNA PARTY (MOTHERLAND PARTY), VITALY KLITSCHKO OF UDAR PARTY (PUNCH PARTY) AND OLEH TYAHNYBOK OF SVOBODA PARTY GIVING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) LEADER OF THE BATKIVSHCHYNA PARTY (MOTHERLAND PARTY), ARSENIY YATSENIUK, SAYING: "We call upon him (President Viktor Yanukovich) to immediately cancel his visit to China. The future of Ukraine is not being decided in China right now. The president is obliged to stay in Ukraine. We call upon him to immediately sign the resignation of the government and to start a criminal investigation against the Minister of Interior Affairs Zacharchenko and other persons involved in the violent scenario. We call upon him to stop the economic crisis." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) LEADER OF THE BATKIVSHCHYNA PARTY (MOTHERLAND PARTY), ARSENIY YATSENIUK, SAYING: "One of their (current government's) options is the separation of the country into two parts. And now it depends personally on Yanukovich if Ukraine will be preserved as a whole, united country or if Ukraine loses its sovereignty and independence and there will be blood on his (President Viktor Yanukovich's) shirt. He is not taking any steps that would be taken by a respectable president of a truly European country." UKRAINIAN AND EUROPEAN UNION FLAGS (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) SVOBODA PARTY LEADER, OLEH TYAHNYBOK, SAYING: "We think that our blockade of the administrative structures is, to this day, legal. Right now the blockade of the Cabinet of Ministers is going on and it will be of course be extended. Today we began the blockade of the president's administration as well and I want to emphasize that we are concentrating our impetus, our attention on the presidential administration." TYAHNYBOK SPEAKING CROWDS AT INDEPENDENCE SQUARE CHEERING FOR OPPOSITION LEADERS OPPOSITION LEADERS WALKING ON STAGE CROWD LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION PUNCH PARTY, VITALY KLITSCHKO, SAYING: "We call for a strike, an all-Ukraine strike. And these authorities have to hear us. I am certain that we have to put pressure on those authorities, we will block and won't let these (governmental) organisations work since they don't fulfill their functions and don't work for government." SCREEN SHOWING KLITSCHKO SPEAKING CROWD LISTENING
- Embargoed: 18th December 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ukraine
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA3FO2DHGJC9278F2DIFHMR8TKT
- Story Text: Ukraine's opposition leaders on Tuesday (December 3) called for an end to President Viktor Yanukovich's government and warned of a division of the country.
Speaking in Kiev, the opposition protesters called on Yanukovich to break off an official visit to China, where the president flew earlier on Tuesday despite ongoing anti-government protests back home.
"We call upon him (President Viktor Yanukovich) to immediately cancel his visit to China. The future of Ukraine is not being decided in China right now. The president is obliged to stay in Ukraine. We call upon him to immediately sign the resignation of the government and to start a criminal investigation against the Minister of Interior Affairs Zacharchenko and other persons involved in the violent scenario. We call upon him to stop the economic crisis," opposition leader Arseny Yatsenyuk told journalists.
"One of their (current government's) options is the separation of the country into two parts. And now it depends personally on Yanukovich if Ukraine will be preserved as a whole, united country or if Ukraine loses its sovereignty and independence and there will be blood on his (President Viktor Yanukovich's) shirt. He is not taking any steps that would be taken by a respectable president of a truly European country," he added.
Another opposition leader Oleh Tyahnybok said that he and his colleagues will continue to block state buildings to get their message through to the government.
"We think that our blockade of the administrative structures is, to this day, legal. Right now the blockade of the Cabinet of Ministers is going on and it will be of course be extended. Today we began the blockade of the president's administration as well and I want to emphasize that we are concentrating our impetus, our attention on the presidential administration," Tyahnybok said.
Some 350,000 protesters massed on Sunday (December 1) in Kiev in the biggest show of popular anger since Ukraine's 2004 'Orange Revolution'. Thousands are still manning barricades and picketing government buildings.
The government's November 21 decision to reject a deal on closer trade ties and integration with the EU has plunged the country of 46 million into turmoil, laying bare once more a deep split in thinking between the Russian-speaking East and Ukrainian-speaking West.
Opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko called Ukrainians for an all-Ukraine strike on Tuesday, saying that some pressure on the government was necessary as it wasn't able to fulfill its duties.
"We call for a strike, an all-Ukraine strike. And these authorities have to hear us. I am certain that we have to put pressure on those authorities, we will block and won't let these (governmental) organisations work since they don't fulfill their functions and don't work for government," Klitschko said.
The opposition itself is an unlikely alliance of political creeds, lacking the kind of unifying leadership of 2004.
Orange revolutionary and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Yanukovich's chief rival who lost a presidential election to him in 2010, is in jail over a gas deal with Russia. Kiev has rejected a request for her to travel to Germany for medical treatment.
In a throwback to 2004, tented camps and supplies of food and warm clothing suggested protesters were hunkering down for a long campaign to bring down Yanukovich. They blocked the entrances to the main government building for a second day, though the cabinet of ministers was still functioning. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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