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Ukrainian President Defends Refusal to Sign Accords, as Protests Continue
(about 5 hours later)
KIEV, Ukraine — Thousands of people milled about on Independence Square on Monday morning, as the Ukrainian government effectively ceded control of the landmark plaza to protesters demanding the resignation of President Viktor F. Yanukovich and a revival of accords that would draw the country closer to Europe.
KIEV, Ukraine — Even as thousands of protesters occupied Independence Square, blockaded the Cabinet Ministry and continued to demand his resignation, President Viktor F. Yanukovich of Ukraine on Monday defended his refusal to sign accords with the European Union, said he was on the verge of securing lower gas prices from Russia, and urged opposition politicians to wait for presidential elections in 2015 to challenge him.
Several thousand people also marched on the Cabinet Ministry to demand the resignation of the government. They carried blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags and chanted, “Gang, get out!” Many employees could not enter the building and left — aiding the demonstrators’ effort to paralyze the government.
On the day after a huge protest by hundreds of thousands of people in Kiev, the capital, and by thousands more in other cities, Mr. Yanukovich struck a casual pose, sitting in an armchair for an interview with four television stations. He seemed to brush aside the unrest in the country, saying he would leave as scheduled for a state visit to China on Tuesday and taking the opportunity to note that the government intended to increase financing for road repair next year.
Meanwhile, Parliamentary leaders continued to meet behind closed doors to discuss the political future of the country and to calculate a response, given fractures that have emerged in Mr. Yanukovich’s support, both in the government and, apparently, among the important constituency of Ukraine’s wealthiest businessmen, known as oligarchs.
To many here, it was unclear if Mr. Yanukovich’s calm demeanor reflected supreme confidence, complete denial or some combination of the two. Other political leaders in Ukraine acknowledged that the authorities were facing a serious civil disturbance, including the occupation by protesters of Kiev City Hall and the large Trade Unions building nearby, as well as a blockade of the Cabinet Ministry, which prevented top officials from reaching their offices.
Volodymyr Rybak, the speaker of Parliament, said Monday that he did not see any basis for declaring a state of emergency — a step that Mr. Yanukovich and his top security advisers appeared to be considering, and one that would almost certainly escalate the confrontation with demonstrators who have already defied court orders and other edicts.
Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, in a meeting with Western ambassadors, complained about the widening unrest, saying, “This has all the signs of a coup.” Opposition leaders in Parliament said they would call for vote of no-confidence in the government on Tuesday, while protest leaders appeared to be digging in for a long battle on the streets, establishing a tent city in Independence Square that included first aid stations and canteens.
“The issue today is not considered at any level,” Mr. Rybak said at a briefing, according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. “I do not see the necessity.”
Mr. Yanukovich’s remarks during the interview suggested that he was reaching out even further for help from Russia, where President Vladimir V. Putin on Monday remarked, “The events in Ukraine seem more like a pogrom than a revolution.” Russia had exerted heavy pressure to convince Mr. Yanukovich to scuttle the political and free trade agreements with Europe, threatening trade sanctions that could decimate the Ukrainian economy.
Mr. Rybak has called for “round-table” meetings to resolve the crisis, employing the same phrase as that used for negotiations that peacefully resolved Ukraine’s Orange Revolution in 2004.
Mr. Yanukovich, in the television interview, said that he planned to initiate negotiations this week with Russia to extend a strategic partnership agreement dating from 1997. He said that both Ukraine and Russia were acting in their own economic interests by seeking to strengthen ties, and he took a jab at the protesters who demanded that he sign the accords with Europe, suggesting that they were not acting in accordance with Western values.
But on Monday morning he refused demands by opposition lawmakers to hold a vote calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and the rest of the government.
“If we want European standards, we must do everything within the framework of the law — this is the principle of democracy,” Mr. Yanukovich said. He also suggested that the leaders in Parliament supporting demands for his resignation were getting ahead of themselves. “I urge all politicians not to rush,” he said. “They are all still young, and they have everything ahead of them. Elections are coming. People will determine. Whoever is elected, so be it.”
His remarks on elections were sure to draw snickers, given that Ukraine’s Orange Revolution in 2004 was set off by blatant ballot fraud that handed Mr. Yanukovich an easy victory in the presidential race that year. He has also been under sharp international criticism for the conviction and jailing of his main political rival, former president Yulia V. Tymoshenko, on abuse of authority charges.
Mr. Yanukovich also spoke by phone on Monday with the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, and asked to continue some discussions around the political and free trade accords. The Europeans have said they remain open to signing the agreements, provided Ukraine meets necessary conditions, including efforts to overhaul its judicial system. Mr. Barroso in the telephone conversation urged restraint in dealing with protesters, and respect for civil liberties.
Several of the opposition leaders in Parliament, including Arseniy P. Yatseniuk of the Fatherland coalition, the boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, of the Udar party, and Oleg Tyagnibok of the nationalist Svoboda Party, are leading the protest movement in partnership with a coalition of civic activists.
Several of the opposition leaders in Parliament, including Arseniy P. Yatseniuk of the Fatherland coalition, the boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, of the Udar party, and Oleg Tyagnibok of the nationalist Svoboda Party, are leading the protest movement in partnership with a coalition of civic activists.
Inna Bohoslovska, a member of Parliament who has quit Mr. Yanukovich’s Party of Regions in support of the demonstrators, called on Monday for the government to resign. Demonstrators also continued to occupy City Hall in Kiev, where windows had been smashed and walls covered with graffiti. Under a sign for the Kiev City Council, someone had painted in black: “Revolution Headquarters.”
The speaker of Parliament, Volydymor Rybak, has called for “round-table” talks to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, using the same buzz-phrase for negotiations in 2004 that ultimately settled the Orange Revolution with a revote that Mr. Yanukovich lost to Viktor A. Yushchenko.
Worries about an escalation reverberated to the United Nations, where Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement appealing to “all parties to act with restraint, avoid any further violence and to uphold the democratic principles of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”
Mr. Rybak on Monday said that he did not see any basis for declaring a state of emergency. That was a step that Mr. Yanukovich and some of his top security advisers appeared to be considering, one that political experts said would almost certainly escalate the confrontation with demonstrators who have already defied court orders and other edicts.
After a huge rally on Sunday — a crowd estimated at a million or more that observers said exceeded even the largest gatherings of the Orange Revolution nine years ago — the demonstrators overnight blocked city streets, using Christmas decorations and police barricades intended to stop the protest.
After a violent crackdown by the police on several hundred demonstrators early Saturday morning, serious fractures had appeared to emerge in Mr. Yanukovich’s administration, notably the chief of the presidential administration, Sergiy Liovochkin, and also among his Party of Regions in Parliament.
The result was an oddly festive, fir-trimmed encampment at the heart of the Ukrainian capital. Protest leaders, sensing that momentum had turned to their advantage, continued to add infrastructure to their operation, bringing in television monitors and erecting a small tent city that included first-aid stations and canteens.
On Monday, however, the president’s office sought to minimize those divisions. In a statement, the administration said Mr. Yanukovich had refused to accept Mr. Liovochkin’s resignation.
Having occupied the nearby Trade Unions building on Sunday, they seized control of a giant screen mounted on its facade, and replaced the advertising it had carried — first with images of the yellow-starred European Union flag, and by Monday morning with a live video feed of speakers on the protest stage outside.
Nevertheless, Inna Bohoslovska, a member of Parliament who has quit Mr. Yanukovich’s Party of Regions in support of the demonstrators, called on Monday for the government to resign.
Mr. Yanukovich’s refusal to sign political and free trade accords with the European Union has now directly shaken the president’s prospects of remaining in power. Cracks have begun to emerge in his political base: His chief of administration was reported to have resigned, and a few members of Parliament have quit his party and have decried the police violence.
After the huge rally on Sunday the demonstrators overnight blocked city streets, using Christmas decorations and police barricades intended to stop the protest.
Many Ukrainians see the agreements with Europe as crucial steps toward a brighter economic and political future, and as a way to break free from the grip of Russia and from Ukraine’s Soviet past. The outcry over Mr. Yanukovich’s abandonment of the accords is pushing Russia into a corner.
The result was an oddly festive, fir-trimmed encampment at the heart of the Ukrainian capital. Protest leaders, sensing that momentum had turned to their advantage, continued to add infrastructure to their operation, bringing in television monitors and erecting the small tent city.
The Kremlin, which has supported Mr. Yanukovich as a geopolitical ally for years despite its frequent annoyance with him, used aggressive pressure to persuade him not to sign the accords. Now the anger over Russia’s role has made it all but impossible for Mr. Yanukovich to take the alternative offered by the Kremlin — joining a customs union with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Any compromise with the protesters would have to revive the accords with Europe, and reduce Russia’s sway.
Protesters also continued to occupy City Hall in Kiev, where windows had been smashed and walls covered with graffiti. Under a sign for the Kiev City Council, someone had painted in black: “Revolution Headquarters.”
The steady escalation of the protests — and the threat of further violent crackdowns — has created a volatile situation that showed no sign of abating.
The authorities reported Sunday night that about a hundred police officers and more than 50 protesters were injured, including some with burns to their eyes from tear gas. Witnesses said that some protesters, including women, had been beaten brutally.
The police made scattered arrests, but did not immediately release a tally.
There were demonstrations in the cities of Lviv and Chernivtsi, in the generally pro-European western part of Ukraine, and also in the predominantly Russian-speaking east, which tends to favor close ties with Moscow and where Mr. Yanukovich has his main base of support. Several thousand people rallied in Dnipropetrovsk in the southeast, defying a court order banning a protest there. Even in Donetsk, Mr. Yanukovich’s hometown in the east, hundreds rallied in favor of European integration.
Serhiy Lyovochkin, the chief of the presidential administration staff, reportedly resigned on Saturday over the crackdown. At least five lawmakers from the Party of Regions spoke out forcefully against the police violence, and at least two, David Zhvania and Ms. Bohoslovska, said they had quit the party. Ms. Bohoslovska sent a text message to a protest leader, Yegor Sobolev, telling him: “If I can be useful, I am here. Let’s go to the rally.”
There were signs that some of Ukraine’s wealthiest business leaders, known as oligarchs, were turning against Mr. Yanukovich as well, or at least were positioning themselves for a major shift in the government. Mr. Sobolev said that a television channel owned by Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man, had invited him to appear in prime time, which he took to be an effort by Mr. Akhmetov to reach out to the opposition.
The Orange Revolution in 2004 also centered on mass protests against Mr. Yanukovich, in response to blatant election fraud that made him the easy winner of the presidential election that year, contradicting early returns and exit polls that showed him losing to Viktor A. Yushchenko. The protests led to a new election that Mr. Yushchenko won, but Mr. Yanukovich made a comeback in 2010, defeating Yulia V. Tymoshenko, the former prime minister. Ms. Tymoshenko has since been prosecuted and imprisoned for abuse of authority.
Although Mr. Yanukovich condemned the police violence on Saturday and promised an investigation, his government drew heavy international criticism, including from the United States.
The chief of the Kiev police, Valery Koryak, submitted his resignation on Sunday, saying that he had given the order to use force, though it was not clear whether he had control over the officers involved. The interior minister, Vitaliy Zakharchenko, did not accept the resignation, but said he was suspending Mr. Koryak pending the investigation.
Mr. Zakharchenko also publicly apologized for the use of excessive force, but his apology did little to ease public outrage.
Unlike the protests of 2004, which focused on installing a particular leader, the current protests stem from the thwarted ambitions of millions of Ukrainians who view integration with Europe as a step toward eliminating rampant corruption, overhauling the justice system and generally improving the standard of living.
“People are not on the street to support exact politicians,” Mr. Sobolev said. “There are even a lot of people who said we don’t need politicians. The general opinion was something closer to the American and European ideal — that the real power should be citizens, not ministers, not presidents, not politicians.”
