Ukraine Leaders Sign Deal They Hope Will End Violence
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metrokom/Thinkstock(KIEV, Ukraine) — Ukraine’s president and opposition leaders signed a political deal Friday that curbs some of President Viktor Yanukovich’s power and calls for new elections, but leaves him in office at least until December.
It remains to be seen whether the pact will defuse violence in the capital of Kiev where protesters have battled security forces, leaving about 100 people dead. One of their main demands was Yanukovich’s resignation.
The terms of the deal, as reported by a Ukrainian newspaper, were quickly and loudly rejected by the masses occupying Kiev’s Independence Square. A radical wing of the opposition, the Right Sector, which sparked Thursday’s violence by attacking police, said they did not trust Yanukovich and planned to continue the fight until the government steps down, according to Interfax.
The deal, as announced on Yanukovich’s website, would “initiate” early elections, return to the 2004 version of Ukraine’s constitution, and form a government of “national trust.”
The announcement did not say when elections would be, but sources told Ukrainska Pravda the deal would revert to the 2004 constitution within 48 hours, form a coalition government within 10 days, and hold elections in December, just a couple months before they were originally scheduled.
Interfax reports that under the agreement, some of Yanukovich’s authority would be curbed and the current interior minister and prosecutor general would not be allowed to take part in a new government.
The compromise was hammered out by diplomats from Poland, France and Germany. Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski tweeted that the deal is a “Good compromise for Ukraine. Gives peace a chance. Opens the way to reform and to Europe. Poland and EU support it.”
U.S. Ambassador Geoff Pyatt called it a “hopeful breakthrough.”
Any deal, however, will likely do little to heal the deep divides in Ukraine. Those in the square, primarily from the country’s West, favor an embrace of Europe and are angry about pervasive corruption in government. Many in eastern Ukraine, however, remain behind Yanukovich and support his decision to maintain strong ties with Moscow.
The arrangement appears to have been a disappointment for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has backed Yanukovich and opposed Ukraine’s embrace of Europe. The Kremlin’s appointed mediator, Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin, reportedly planned to return to Moscow.
According to Russia’s Interfax news agency, Lukin declined to sign on to a peace deal.
In Independence Square Friday, news of a deal that might keep Yanukovich in power until December was met with outrage and chants of “No agreement, only resignation.”
Protest leaders had rejected an offer last month to join the government. Instead they insisted on Yanukovich’s immediate resignation. The crowd on the streets made it clear anything short of that will not be acceptable.
The United States also leaned on Yanukovich. Vice President Joe Biden called the Ukrainian president on Thursday, warning that Washington was prepared to impose sanctions.
The Obama administration and Congress are both readying new sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans on those deemed responsible for the violence. Those measures would add to similar moves this week by The European Union and Canada.
On a related note, the State Department has issued a warning advising U.S. citizens “to defer all non-essential travel to Ukraine due to the ongoing political unrest and violent clashes between police and protestors.” The agency has also authorized the departure of all family members of U.S. government personnel from Ukraine.
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