Yanukovych holds televised press conference amid unprecedented security

President Viktor Yanukovych's first televised meeting with the press in 15 months took off amid unprecedented security measures. The press conference started at 11.30 a.m. on March 1 in the Ukrainian House in the Kyiv city center.

Prior to the press conference police cordoned
off the European square around the Ukrainian House. A young man with flags of
Yanukovych’s ruling Party of Regions stood by the road.

News reports said the mobile network had been
shut down in the area.

Yanukovych began the press conference with a speech on the progress made
during the three years of his presidency. 

Security outside the presidential press conference on March 1 at the Ukrainian House in the Kyiv city center. Photo by Mustafa Nayem, www.pravda.com.ua

He emphasized the simplification of business procedures and cuts in
bureaucratic procedures. He also said that, unlike the many European countries
which cut social benefits, Ukraine has managed to maintain its current
programs.

Yet the government has received its share of complaints, including
soaring prices for utilities and food, poor government services and
insufficient state medical care.

“People are not disappointed with reforms, but changes are needed not in
the far away future, but now. I feel the reforms have to speed up,” Yanukovych
said. “This is what the state program of activating the economy is meant to
address. We passed the program in the first reading on Monday.”

Separately, a group of journalists belonging to the “Stop Censorship”
movement were seen in the hall wearing masks of the president in protest of rollbacks in media freedoms.

A group of journalists belonging to the “Stop Censorship” movement were seen in the hall wearing masks of the president in protest of rollbacks in media freedoms. Photo by Nastya Stanko, www.pravda.com.ua

Yanukovych last fielded questions
with the nation on Feb. 25, 2011. In 2012 the
press conference was cancelled after parliament passed a controversial language
bill that elevated the status of the Russian language in the country. It was
supposed to take place on July 4, 2012.

Mass protests subsequently erupted in central Kyiv,
and dozens of activists went on hunger strike while clashes with special police
units broke out near the Ukrainian House where the president was to hold the
live, televised talks with the nation.

Kyiv Post staff writer Svitlana Tuchynska can be
reached at [email protected]