Ukraine eyes emergency after ministry’s seizure
29 Jan 2014 4:53 AM IST
The storming of the justice ministry threatened to derail talks between the opposition and President Viktor Yanukovych to find a peaceful outcome to a boiling standoff that according to officials has left three activists dead.
The Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday was due to meet to discuss concessions proposed by Yanukovych to end the crisis, in a highly anticipated extraordinary session that could be a make-or-break moment to resolve the standoff.
With concern growing in the West that the situation in Ukraine is spiralling out of control, the crisis was also set to dominate an EU-Russia summit on Tuesday.
The protests, which began in November as a drive for EU integration after Yanukovych ditched a key deal with the bloc under Russian pressure, have now turned into an all out uprising to unseat him.
Tensions remained high in Kiev as several dozen radical protesters from a group named Spilna Sprava (The Right Deed) seized control of the justice ministry late Sunday, smashing windows and erecting new barricades outside.
Justice Minister Olena Lukash, who is taking part in the negotiations, said she would ask for the talks to be broken off if the building was not freed.
‘I will be forced to ask the president of Ukraine to stop the talks if the building is not freed immediately and negotiators are not given a chance to find a peaceful solution to the conflict,’ Lukash told Ukraine’s Inter channel.
If the protesters do not vacate the building, Lukash said she would also approach Ukraine’s national security council with ‘a demand to discuss imposing a state of emergency in this country.’
The Interfax-Ukraine news agency said opposition leader and former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, who is involved in the negotiations with the president, had visited the scene overnight and asked the protesters to leave, but to no avail.
The authorities have been rumoured to have considered imposing a state of emergency but the prospect of such an extreme step had reportedly unnerved many in Yanukovych’s Regions Party.
‘Yanukovych is getting weaker’
Protesters now control much of the city centre of Kiev around the protest hub of Independence Square, with their camp protected by barricades several metres high and guarded by activists dressed in balaclavas and armed with baseball bats.
But the rebellion has now spread well beyond Kiev, with protesters occupying regional administrations in all but one region in the west of the country which has traditionally been anti-Yanukovych.
But most worryingly for the president, protests have swept to the country’s east and centre, usually considered more the president’s heartland.
Protesters have now blockaded or attempted to blockade 14 of the 25 regional administrations across Ukraine.
The Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday was due to meet to discuss concessions proposed by Yanukovych to end the crisis, in a highly anticipated extraordinary session that could be a make-or-break moment to resolve the standoff.
With concern growing in the West that the situation in Ukraine is spiralling out of control, the crisis was also set to dominate an EU-Russia summit on Tuesday.
The protests, which began in November as a drive for EU integration after Yanukovych ditched a key deal with the bloc under Russian pressure, have now turned into an all out uprising to unseat him.
Tensions remained high in Kiev as several dozen radical protesters from a group named Spilna Sprava (The Right Deed) seized control of the justice ministry late Sunday, smashing windows and erecting new barricades outside.
Justice Minister Olena Lukash, who is taking part in the negotiations, said she would ask for the talks to be broken off if the building was not freed.
‘I will be forced to ask the president of Ukraine to stop the talks if the building is not freed immediately and negotiators are not given a chance to find a peaceful solution to the conflict,’ Lukash told Ukraine’s Inter channel.
If the protesters do not vacate the building, Lukash said she would also approach Ukraine’s national security council with ‘a demand to discuss imposing a state of emergency in this country.’
The Interfax-Ukraine news agency said opposition leader and former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, who is involved in the negotiations with the president, had visited the scene overnight and asked the protesters to leave, but to no avail.
The authorities have been rumoured to have considered imposing a state of emergency but the prospect of such an extreme step had reportedly unnerved many in Yanukovych’s Regions Party.
‘Yanukovych is getting weaker’
Protesters now control much of the city centre of Kiev around the protest hub of Independence Square, with their camp protected by barricades several metres high and guarded by activists dressed in balaclavas and armed with baseball bats.
But the rebellion has now spread well beyond Kiev, with protesters occupying regional administrations in all but one region in the west of the country which has traditionally been anti-Yanukovych.
But most worryingly for the president, protests have swept to the country’s east and centre, usually considered more the president’s heartland.
Protesters have now blockaded or attempted to blockade 14 of the 25 regional administrations across Ukraine.
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