Ukraine president backs compromise talks

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich has backed a call for talks with the opposition to end weeks of protests in Kiev.

It comes as tension remains high on the streets of the capital as pro-Europe demonstrators prepare for police to break up their protest camps.

As riot police took up new positions in the capital, heavyweight boxing champion-turned-opposition politician Vitaly Klitschko called on the protesters to stand their ground.

He warned President Yanukovich that he would have blood on his hands if security forces tried to end the stand off violently.

The president's switch in trade policy away from the European Union towards Russia on 21 November provoked the unrest.

Today, the presidential website said Mr Yanukovich supported a proposal for round-table talks involving the authorities and the opposition as a possible "platform for mutual understanding".

No date was given for when the reconciliation talks could be held.

It was not clear either what the united opposition's reaction to Mr Yanukovich's proposal would be.

But it was the first sign that the president might be ready to listen to opposition demands for the resignation of his government and early elections.

Despite his words, tension rose sharply on the streets after riot police units moved to take up their positions at potential flashpoints.

Demonstrators, responding to calls from opposition leaders, threw up new blocks in streets blanketed by snow after a heavy fall overnight to seal off their main protest camp on Kiev's Independence Square.

"The opposition must stay here and do everything to stop the police from breaking up a peaceful demonstration," Mr Klitschko told Reuters.

"We call on people to stand their ground, and peacefully, without using force or aggression, to defend their right to live in a free country," said Mr Klitschko, who is increasingly seen as a national leader-in-waiting in recent weeks.

"We are expecting the break-up by police of peaceful demonstrators. If blood is spilled during this dispersing (of protesters), this blood will be on the hands of the person who ordered it ... Yanukovich," Mr Klitschko said.

The protesters have been inflamed by a police crackdown on 30 November.

European Commissioner José Manuel Barroso, who spoke to Mr Yanukovich by phone yesterday, led Western calls today for authorities not to react violently.

"Those young people in the streets of Ukraine in freezing temperatures are writing the new narrative for Europe," he said in Milan.

"I've asked him (Mr Yanukovich) to show restraint in the face of these recent developments, not to use force against people who are demonstrating peacefully, to respect fully their freedom."

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expects to meet Mr Yanukovich and opposition leaders when she visits Kiev tomorrow and Wednesday.

Biggest protests in Kiev since Orange Revolution

The president's sudden turn towards Russia has provoked the biggest street protests since the 2004-5 Orange Revolution, when people power forced a re-run of a fraud-tainted election and thwarted his first run for the presidency.

Yesterday, several hundred thousand people turned out on Independence Square - focal point of the "orange" protests - calling for the government's resignation and early elections.

The rally, which ended with a crowd toppling a statue of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin, followed talks on Friday between Mr Yanukovich and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Neither side has yet given a detailed account of what was agreed at those talks, though Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said a "big agreement" had been reached.

Though most people believe Mr Putin may have offered credits and a cheaper price for gas in return for dumping an EU trade pact, the secrecy surrounding the talks has fuelled opposition suspicions that Mr Yanukovich might be readying to take Ukraine into a Russian-led customs union.

There was no immediate response from the opposition to Mr Yanukovich's offer of talk.

But Mr Klitschko has been calling for a meeting with the 63-year-old president for some time.

He told Reuters that if he did meet the president, he would continue to insist on the resignation of the government.

As Mr Yanukovich's statement appeared, riot police took up position in streets near Independence Square where about a thousand protesters camped overnight and near Kiev's city hall, which is occupied by demonstrators.

After a court order was issued for the protesters to quit the building, police told those inside last week that they had four days to leave or be ejected.

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Ukraine president backs compromise talks

Dengan url

http://newsdeadlineup.blogspot.com/2013/12/ukraine-president-backs-compromise-talks.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Ukraine president backs compromise talks

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Ukraine president backs compromise talks

sebagai sumbernya