Editor's Note: The following Kyiv Post article was originally published on Feb. 21, 2014 at 5:53 p.m.
After the bloodiest week in Ukraine’s independent history, President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leaders on Feb. 21 signed a deal aimed at defusing the political crisis that has racked the post-Soviet country for three months.
The deal came on Friday afternoon
following more than 20 hours of negotiations with opposition leaders and
foreign officials from France, Germany and Poland who also signed the deal and “commend
the parties for their courage and commitment to the agreement and call for an
immediate end to all violence and confrontation in Ukraine,” according to a German
Foreign Ministry statement.
Under the deal, first announced on
the presidential website Friday morning, early presidential elections are to be
held this year sometime between September and December. Also, a coalition government is to be formed and Yanukovych is to relinquish some of his powers through restoring the 2004 constitution.
Shortly after the signing, parliament overwhelmingly voted to restore the 2004 constitution of Ukraine, with 386 votes in favor.
Also, parliament, in another unanimous vote with 372 in favor, approved full amnesty for participants of peaceful gatherings since Nov. 21 and the closing of all criminal cases against these demonstrators.
The agreement, however, makes no mention of freeing imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the leader of the Batkivshchnya Party who lost to Yanukovych in the 2010 presidential election by less than 3.5 percentage points in 2010.
Russian Human Rights Commissioner
Vladimir Lukin, who was sent by President Vladimir Putin as a mediator to Kiev,
returned to Moscow on Friday without signing the agreement, a source from
Lukin’s entourage told Interfax-Ukraine.
Arseniy Yatseniuk, leader of the
opposition Batkivshchyna party, said he was disappointed with Russia not
signing the deal and hopes the country will support it. He declined to comment on
whether he was prepared to head a new coalition government.
The Council of Maidan approved the signing of an agreement
between the authorities and opposition, provided the new government does not
include current Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko and Viktor Pshonka is no
longer Prosecutor General, opposition Svoboda party leader Oleh Tiahnybok said.
“It was decided to
approve the decision on the need to sign the agreement but on the condition
that we do not see Interior Minister Zakharchenko in the next government and
will not see Pshonka as Prosecutor General in the near future,” he told
reporters in Kyiv on Friday.
It is unclear whether
Yanukovych agreed to the conditions laid out by the opposition prior to
signing.
But if the
messages of the square were any indication, the deal might not be enough for
them to pack up their tent camp on Independence Square and go home.
“We have to
state the obvious fact that the criminal regime (of Yanukovych) has not yet
realized either the gravity of its evil doings, nor wrath of the people,” read
a statement from the radical far-right Pravy Sektor organization.
The statement
added that the deal is missing parts such as the “urgent arrest of (acting
Interior Minister Vitaliy) Zakharchenko, commanders of killers in Berkut (riot
police), and sniper killers,” as well as the removal of other Yanukovych
allies, including General Prosecutor Viktor Pshonka.
“Thus, we are
inclined to see this statement of Yanukovych as another attempt at
window-dressing. The people’s revolution continues, and it will end with full
removal from power,” the gorup’s statement said.
The group’s message echoed many of those
on Maidan today.
“Yanukovych staying (in office) till December? No way,” said Ivan, a protester from Lviv oblast who wouldn’t give his name for fear of prosecution. “He must resign as soon as possible. And then, if he doesn’t run away, he will be prosecuted. He deserves a life sentence. There is no way that people will bear having Yanukovych for a president after everything that happened.”
Kyiv Post editor Christopher J. Miller can be reached at [email protected], or on Twitter at @ChristopherJM. Kyiv Post deputy chief editor Katya Gorchinskaya contributed to this story.
