UKRAINE - BOXING: World heavyweight boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko says Ukrainian opposition should unite to put Ukraine back on the path to democratic development

Record ID: 778543

  • Title: UKRAINE - BOXING: World heavyweight boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko says Ukrainian opposition should unite to put Ukraine back on the path to democratic development
  • Date: 13th January 2012
  • Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (JANUARY 12, 2012) (REUTERS) TRAFFIC ON STREET ON FRONT OF UKRAINIAN INDEPENDENT NEWS AGENCY (UNIAN) WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING CHAMPION VITALY KLITSCHKO ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) WORLD HEAVY WEIGHT BOXING CHAMPION VITALY KLITSCHKO, SAYING: "We are addressing our appeal to the colleagues from the opposition! We need to unite n
  • Embargoed: 28th January 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Politics,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA5YF99K8UVOEHQTQYT3QM9WSSX
  • Story Text: Ukrainian world boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko made a political statement on Thursday (January 12) calling the Ukrainian opposition parties to unite around common democratic values instead of splitting forces in election campaigns.
    "We are addressing our appeal to the colleagues from the opposition! We need to unite not around the distribution of vote districts, but around the common idea of bringing Ukraine back to the democratic way of development and to the way of the European integration," Klitschko said announcing the appeal of his party Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms (UDAR) at a news conference in Kiev.
    40-year old Klitschko, now Kiev City Council deputy, has been active in politics for years. He supported former president Viktor Yushchenko and the opposition during the 2004 Orange Revolution, he also ran for Kiev mayor and for Ukrainian parliament in March 2006, campaigning on an anti-corruption platform.
    In other remarks at Thursday's news conference, Klitschko said that many of the sports facilities built for the Euro-2012 soccer championships, to take place in Ukraine and Poland, were suspiciously expensive in Ukraine, insinuating that corrupt officials might be at fault.
    "The officials should explain why these sport objects (built for soccer Euro 2012) were more expensive than exactly the same ones which were built in other countries, for example in Germany or for (2010 Soccer) World Cup in South Africa. There are a lot of examples for comparison to show that our facilities are more expensive,"
    The championships are to be the biggest sporting event is to take place in eastern Europe since the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The competition is slated to run from June 8 to July 1 of this year.
    The stadium in Kiev, and others in Lviv, Donetsk and Kharkiv, have all been completed, as well as all four Polish venues in Warsaw, Wroclaw, Poznan and Gdansk.
    More than 1.4 million visitors are expected to come to Poland and Ukraine for the tournaments.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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