Ukrainian parliament appoints pro-Western leader

Monday, February 24, 2014

Ukrainian parliament appoints pro-Western leader

The Times of Israel

KIEV — Ukraine’s new opposition-led parliament on Sunday appointed a pro-Western interim leader and sought vital EU aid after the ousted pro-Russian president fled Kiev and went into hiding amid anger over a week of carnage. The ex-Soviet state’s three-month crisis culminated in a dizzying flurry of historic changes over the weekend that saw parliament […]

By AFP February 24, 2014, 5:00 am

Anti-government protesters shout slogans at Independence Square, in Kiev, Ukraine, on Friday (photo credit: Bulent Kilic/AFP)

KIEV — Ukraine’s new opposition-led parliament on Sunday appointed a pro-Western interim leader and sought vital EU aid after the ousted pro-Russian president fled Kiev and went into hiding amid anger over a week of carnage.

The ex-Soviet state’s three-month crisis culminated in a dizzying flurry of historic changes over the weekend that saw parliament sideline president Viktor Yanukovych and call a new presidential poll for May 25.

Lawmakers then went a step further by approving the release from her seven-year jail sentence of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko — a star of the 2004 Orange Revolution who was thrown behind bars less than a year after Yanukovych came to power in 2010.

The constitutional legitimacy of parliament’s actions remained an open question and Yanukovych vowed in a taped interview to fight the “bandits” who now claimed to rule Ukraine.

But Yanukovych’s authority was nowhere in evidence in Kiev on Sunday. The city’s police presence had vanished and protesters were in control of everything from traffic management to protection of government buildings after a week of bloodshed claimed nearly 100 lives.

Yanukovych was dealt another blow when his own Regions Party condemned him for issuing “criminal orders” that led to so many deaths.

Parliament also voted to dismiss Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara after sacking the federal police chief and prosecutor general on Saturday.

Lawmakers voted on Sunday to name close Tymoshenko ally Oleksandr Turchynov — himself only appointed parliament speaker on Saturday in place of a veteran Yanukovych supporter — as interim president tasked with forming a new government by Tuesday.

Turchynov immediately vowed to draw up a “government of the people” and warned Russia that he expected the Kremlin to respect his country’s pivot.

“We are ready for a dialogue with Russia… that recognises and takes into account Ukraine’s European choice,” the 49-year-old said in a television address.

Both Washington and EU powers vowed to drum up aid that could pull Ukraine out of a crisis sparked in November when Yanukovych spurned an historic EU trade deal and later secured a $15-billion bailout pledge for the struggling nation from its old master Russia.

Russia once again warned that delivery of its huge bailout package was on hold.

Ukraine owes nearly $13 billion in debt payments this year — money it cannot drum up on financial markets because of prohibitively expensive borrowing costs.

Turchynov warned on Sunday that Ukraine was “rolling toward an (economic) abyss.”

Ukraine to seek European integration

Ukraine’s new interim President Oleksandr Turchynov has said the country will focus on closer integration with the EU.

Mr Turchynov was appointed following the dismissal of President Viktor Yanukovych by MPs on Saturday.
Mr Yanukovych’s rejection of an EU-Ukraine trade pact triggered the protests that toppled him.
Russia, which had backed Mr Yanukovych, has recalled its ambassador to Ukraine for consultations.
Earlier Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the opposition “had in effect seized power in Kiev, refused to disarm and continued to place its bets on violence”.

The US has said parliament’s actions were legitimate and has warned Russia against military intervention.

Mr Turchynov, a close ally of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, gave a televised address late on Sunday, hours after his appointment as interim president.
He vowed to set up a “government of the people”, and said: “We have to return to the family of European countries.”
He added: “We are ready for a dialogue with Russia… on a new, fair, equal and neighbourly basis, acknowledging and taking into account Ukraine’s European choice.”
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has announced she is visiting Kiev on Monday to discuss EU support “for a lasting solution to the political crisis and measures to stabilise the economic situation”.
Mr Turchynov said MPs had until Tuesday to form a new unity government.
‘Modern country’
Thousands of opposition supporters remain in Kiev’s Independence Square, heeding opposition calls not to disperse.
The health ministry says 88 people, mostly anti-Yanukovych protesters, are now known to have been killed in clashes that took place earlier this week.
In an address on Saturday, Mr Yanukovych refused to stand down. He is last thought to have been in the eastern city of Kharkiv after travelling there late on Friday night.
Media reports have quoted Ukrainian officials as saying he was stopped by border police while attempting to flee to Russia.
MPs from Mr Yanukovych’s Party of Regions now appear to be disowning him, having issued a statement criticising him to Interfax-Ukraine.
Meanwhile Ms Tymoshenko, who was freed from detention on Saturday, has ruled out becoming prime minister again.
Her release was one of the conditions of the EU-Ukraine trade pact that Mr Yanukovych rejected last year.

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