UKRAINE: Boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko says that President Viktor Yanukovich has yielded nothing in talks with the opposition after two months of unrest

Record ID: 214148

  • Title: UKRAINE: Boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko says that President Viktor Yanukovich has yielded nothing in talks with the opposition after two months of unrest
  • Date: 24th January 2014
  • Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (JANUARY 24, 2014) (REUTERS) (NIGHTSHOTS) PROTESTERS IN INDEPENDENCE SQUARE WATCHING OPPOSITION LEADERS ADDRESSING CROWD UKRAINIAN NATIONAL FLAG PROTESTERS LISTENING PROTEST LEADERS VITALY KLITSCHKO, OLEH TIAHNYBOK AND ARSENIY YATSENIUK TAKING TO THE STAGE PROTESTERS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) OPPOSITION LEADER, VITALY KLITSCHKO, SAYING: "Long hours of conversations, long hours of conversations about nothing. Now I understand to sit down at the same table with the man who has already decided to lie to you is pointless." PROTESTERS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) OPPOSITION LEADER, VITALY KLITSCHKO, SAYING: "I'm ready to give everything to live in a free country together with you. I'm staying here with you I'm not going anywhere I'm going to fight by your side. I have nothing else to say I am sure that we can." (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) OPPOSITION LEADER, VITALY KLITSCHKO, SAYING: "I am not sure about the month but I'm sure that in the year 2014 we are going to live in the free Ukraine without this dictatorship. Honestly, yours, Vitaly Klitschko PROTESTERS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) OPPOSITION LEADER, ARSENIY YATSENIUK, SAYING: "The decision has been made. We are announcing Hrushevskiy (Street) the territory of Maidan (Independence Sq) not a step back I ask everyone." PROTESTERS CHEERING PROTESTERS WEARING HELMETS AND BODY ARMOUR
  • Embargoed: 8th February 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4SKMMOJRINKH5BD19S7ZAX3QQ
  • Story Text: Ukrainian opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko said early on Friday (January 24) that President Viktor Yanukovich had yielded nothing in talks with the opposition after two months of unrest.
    After speaking first to protesters manning barricades in confrontation with police, Klitschko told others on Kiev's Independence Square: "Long hours of conversations, long hours of conversations about nothing. Now I understand to sit down at the same table with the man who has already decided to lie to you is pointless."
    The boxer-turned-politician told protesters he hoped to avoid bloodshed but he feared there will be deaths.
    "I'm ready to give everything to live in a free country together with you. I'm staying here with you I'm not going anywhere I'm going to fight by your side. I have nothing else to say I am sure that we can," said Klitschko.
    Three opposition politicians - Klitschko, former economy minister Arseny Yatsenyuk and far-right nationalist Oleh Tyahnibok - met Yanukovich for a second round of talks on Thursday (January 23) to try to wring concessions from him that would end two months of street protests and clashes with police in which three protesters have been killed.
    But Klitschko said Yanukovich had refused to consider any suggestion that he or his government should step down because of the unrest, which has convulsed the country since Yanukovich walked away from a free-trade pact with the European Union in November in favor of closer economic ties with Russia.
    He called for the anti-government movement in the capital Kiev and in other cities to be broadened.
    "I am not sure about the month but I'm sure that in the year 2014 we are going to live in the free Ukraine without this dictatorship," said Klitschko.
    Yatsenyuk, another opposition leader, also said more barricades should be built to extend the protest zone in Kiev.
    "The decision has been made. We are announcing Hrushevskiy (Street) the territory of Maidan (Independence Sq) not a step back I ask everyone," said Yatsenyuk.
    Witnesses said that in response to the opposition call, about 1,000 demonstrators, some carrying clubs and wearing masks, moved away from Independence Square and began to erect new barricades closer to the presidential headquarters.
    Late on Thursday Justice Minister Olena Lukash gave the government response to the talks.
    "Unfortunately for the second time the leaders of the opposition have declined from publicly denouncing the extremists' actions. They also do not condemn the capture of local administration buildings. The question of whether the opposition leaders are willing to control the further development of radical events."
    Three people on the protesters' side were killed early on Wednesday (January 22) - two of them from gunshot wounds - as tensions grew on the streets of Kiev after two months of unrest against Yanukovich's rule. More than 150 police have been injured.
    The protests against Yanukovich began in November, when he pulled out of signing a free trade deal with the European Union in favor of closer economic ties with former Soviet overlord Russia.
    The unrest has swollen in recent weeks, and turned violent on Sunday (January 19) when hard-core radicals broke away from the main protest area in the capital Kiev and clashed violently with riot police.
    Sweeping anti-protest laws were rammed through parliament last week by Yanukovich loyalists.
    Those laws served to boost mass demonstrations on the streets of Kiev at the weekend, and the opposition is demanding they be repealed.
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