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Ukrainian President Offers Top Posts to Opposition Leaders Ukrainian President Offers Top Government Posts to Opposition Leaders
(about 3 hours later)
KIEV, Ukraine — Maneuvering to defuse the civil uprising that has gripped Ukraine, President Viktor F. Yanukovych on Saturday offered to install opposition leaders in top posts in a reshaped government, proposing one of them, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, as prime minister and another, the former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, as a vice prime minister for humanitarian affairs. KIEV, Ukraine — In a striking concession aimed at defusing the civil uprising that has gripped Ukraine, President Viktor F. Yanukovych on Saturday offered to install opposition leaders in top posts in a reshaped government, proposing one of them, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, as prime minister and another, the former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, as vice prime minister for humanitarian affairs.
Many protesters who have taken to the streets of Kiev, the capital, including some involved in violent clashes with the police, have been demanding Mr. Yanukovych’s resignation, which he did not offer. In addition, some of the most aggressive demonstrators have been supporters of the nationalist Svoboda Party and its leader, Oleg Tyagnibok, who was apparently not offered a position. Mr. Yatsenyuk, who seemed confident that the opposition had pushed the president to the brink of defeat, rebuffed his offer.
There was no immediate reaction from the three opposition leaders, but there were swift indications that the proposal was not being well received on the street. “No deal,” Mr. Yatsenyuk wrote on his Twitter account, addressing Mr. Yanukovych. “We’re finishing what we started. The people decide our leaders, not you.”
One Twitter account used by demonstrators quickly posted this message: “Crowd not content with info coming out of today’s ongoing negotiations between gov & protesters.” Minutes later, on stage at the occupied Independence Square, Mr. Yatsenyuk sounded a more flexible note and suggested that a leadership change was possible, but that negotiations would have to continue.
Yet in a move that suggested that the offers were more than theatrics aimed at dividing the opposition, Mr. Yanukovych also said he would be willing to roll back constitutional changes made at his direction that had sharply expanded the powers of the presidency. He also agreed to make changes to a package of new laws that broadly suppress political dissent, including freedoms of speech and assembly, that Mr. Yanukovych’s backers rammed through Parliament on Jan. 16. Many protesters on the streets of Kiev, the capital, including some involved in violent clashes with the police, have been demanding Mr. Yanukovych’s resignation, which he did not offer.
The concessions were announced in a statement on the presidential website after a negotiation session lasting more than three hours that was attended by all three of the opposition leaders on Saturday afternoon. And it came as mass protests continued to spread throughout the country, with efforts to occupy or blockade government buildings underway in at least a dozen cities besides Kiev. In addition, some of the most aggressive demonstrators are supporters of the nationalist Svoboda Party and its leader, Oleg Tyagnibok, who was apparently not offered a position.
The leadership changes were announced in a portion of the statement attributed to the minister of justice, who took part in the talks. In addition to the leadership posts, she said, Mr. Yanukovych had agreed to engage in a public debate with Mr. Klitschko, who has said he plans to challenge Mr. Yanukovych in presidential elections next year. In a move that suggested that the offers were more than theatrics aimed at dividing the opposition, Mr. Yanukovych also said he would be willing to roll back constitutional changes made at his direction that had expanded the powers of the presidency. He also agreed to make changes to a package of new laws that broadly suppress political dissent, including freedoms of speech and assembly, which Mr. Yanukovych’s backers rammed through Parliament on Jan. 16.
The deal would apparently also allow for the release of detained protesters who were not charged with serious crimes, and it would call for reshaping the Central Election Commission, giving opposition parties more influence — a step that is seen as important to preventing election fraud, which has been a persistent problem in Ukrainian balloting. The concessions were announced in a statement on the presidential website on Saturday after a negotiation session lasting more than three hours that was attended by all three of the opposition leaders. They came as protests continued to spread across the country, with efforts to occupy or blockade government buildings underway in at least a dozen cities besides Kiev.
The leadership changes were offered in a portion of the statement attributed to the minister of justice, Olena Lukash, who took part in the talks. Ms. Lukash said that Mr. Yanukovych had also agreed to engage in a public debate with Mr. Klitschko, who has said he plans to challenge Mr. Yanukovych in the presidential election next year.
The deal would apparently also allow for the release of detained protesters who have not been charged with serious crimes, and call for reshaping the Central Election Commission to give opposition parties more influence — a step that is seen as important to preventing election fraud, which has been a persistent problem in Ukrainian balloting.
Even before the three opposition leaders could return to Independence Square in Kiev, where they were expected to address the demonstrators and react to Mr. Yanukovych’s proposal, violence flared in the main conflict zone, near the Dynamo soccer stadium. Protesters clashed with special police units, and tires were once again set ablaze on the street.
Mr. Yanukovych’s willingness to remove Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, who has been his staunch ally through the more than two-month-long civic uprising, underscored just how much pressure he is facing to contain the crisis. As mass protests have spread in recent days, it has become increasingly clear that the elite Berkut riot police and other Interior Ministry troops are outnumbered and would face enormous challenges if asked to enforce a state of emergency.
And on Saturday, Mr. Yanukovych came under further pressure from two of the nation’s wealthiest men, the so-called oligarchs who control Ukraine’s industry and economy and also wield influence in Parliament. Both men warned, in separate statements, that Ukraine was in danger of splintering.
System Capital Management, a conglomerate owned by Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov, regarded as a close ally of Mr. Yanukovych, issued a statement lamenting the loss of life and offering condolences.
“Business cannot keep silent when people are killed; a real danger of breakup of the country emerges; when a political crisis can lead to a deep economic recession and thus inevitably result in lower standards of living,” the statement said. “It is only by peaceful action that the political crisis can be resolved. Any use of force and weapons is unacceptable.”
Another billionaire, Petro Poroshenko, a member of Parliament who is viewed as a potential future president, issued a statement calling on lawmakers loyal to Mr. Yanukovych to join with opposition leaders to reach a compromise.
“Ukraine has never faced such a big threat,” Mr. Poroshenko said. “It’s no longer a political crisis. It’s a crisis of statehood. In danger are the lives of our fellow citizens, civil peace and territorial integrity.”
“Anyone who fails to see it or denies it,” he added, “is either blind or a provocateur.”
Before word came of Mr. Yanukovych’s concessions, opposition leaders had been bracing for a declaration of a state of emergency, which they warned would only lead to further bloodshed.
Saturday also brought news that a protester injured during battles with the police had died in a Kiev hospital, raising the confirmed death toll to four since protests began in November. Ukraine’s crisis began after Mr. Yanukovych broke a promise to sign far-reaching political and free trade agreements with the European Union. After abandoning those deals, he turned to Russia, which agreed to provide $15 billion in loans and discounts on natural gas to stave off an economic collapse that some experts warned was imminent.
Mass demonstrations and sieges of public buildings have spread to at least three more cities, and the interior minister, Vitaliy Zakharchenko, said efforts to solve the conflict “without force” had failed so far. Mr. Zakharchenko also warned that antigovernment protesters in Kiev were stockpiling weapons.
In recent days, as violence threatened to spiral out of control in the capital, mobs of protesters sought to seize control of or blockade government buildings in cities throughout western and central Ukraine.
On Saturday, demonstrators occupied the regional administration building in Vinnytsia, a city in central Ukraine about 90 miles from the border with Moldova, and blockaded a government building in Chernihiv, north of Kiev, near the border with Belarus. There was also a large protest in Poltava, about 200 miles southeast of Kiev.
Those actions, combined with the violence in the capital, drew pleas — both domestically and from abroad — for calm and for a peaceful solution.
Mr. Yanukovych’s concessions on Saturday came as something of a surprise after two rounds of talks proved largely fruitless, with the opposition leaders and demonstrators rejecting his earlier proposals as insufficient.
Without changes to the Constitution, the opposition leaders were unlikely to gain much of a voice in the government even if they accepted the deal.
Mr. Klitschko, the former boxer who leads the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform, had said that given the worsening situation in the country, only Mr. Yanukovych’s resignation would satisfy protesters.
Mr. Yanukovych was clearly maneuvering strategically by offering the prime minister’s position to Mr. Yatsenyuk, who public opinion surveys show is less popular than Mr. Klitschko and therefore less of a threat.
Mr. Yatsenyuk is the leader in Parliament of Fatherland, the party of Ukraine’s jailed former prime minister, Yulia V. Tymoshenko.
Earlier on Saturday, Mr. Yatsenyuk issued a statement warning against a declaration of a state of emergency, which demonstrators would almost certainly defy.
“The country is on the edge of bloodshed,” he said. “On Yanukovych’s desk there is a decree on introducing a state of emergency. A signature on this decree is a signature for the killing of hundreds and a signature for the destruction of Ukraine.”