Jailed Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko yesterday called on people to take to the streets after President Viktor Yanukovich’s government dropped plans for a landmark deal with the European Union and revived talks on ties with Russia.
Several hundred demonstrators, ringed by riot police, had already gathered in central Kiev denouncing the government’s action even before Tymoshenko issued her emotional appeal. They waved EU flags and chanted anti-government slogans.
The protests evoked memories of the Orange Revolution, which Tymoshenko co-led, but their numbers could not be compared with the tens of thousands who massed nine years ago.
There was a likelihood, however, of a far higher turnout tomorrow, when a large rally is being called by the opposition.
“I am calling on all people to react to this (news) as they would to a coup d’etat – that is: get out on to the streets,” the 52-year-old politician said in a letter read to journalists by her lawyer, Serhiy Vlasenko.
In a separate statement, Tymoshenko said she had felt “simply like killing” Yanukovich when she heard of the government’s U-turn.
The policy reverse after years of building up to the signing of a trade and cooperation agreement with the EU, scheduled for November 29, had been driven by economic reality, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov told a rowdy session of Parliament.
The country of 46 million is heavily-indebted and must find more than $17 billion next year to meet gas bills to Russia and debt repayments including $3.7 billion to the International Monetary Fund.
“The decision to suspend signing the agreement with the EU was difficult but the only possible one in the current economic situation in Ukraine. This decision was dictated solely by economic reasons and is tactical,” he said.
He hastily left the chamber at the end of his speech when opposition members, dressed in white and red sweaters declaring “Freedom to Ukraine” and “Ukraine is Europe”, booed him and threw stacks of papers at his ministers.
Yanukovich had been due to sign the agreement with the EU at a summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius in a week’s time, but came under pressure by Russia, Ukraine’s biggest trading partner and main source of gas, to back off the deal and join a Moscow-led customs union.
No details have yet emerged of what deal was struck between Yanukovich and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who yesterday savoured a diplomatic triumph over the 28-member western bloc.
But it seemed certain that it involved economic benefits, including a cheaper price for gas, which Kiev has been seeking for four years, and possibly loans.
The opposition, which has been accusing Yanukovich for weeks of preparing to pull out of the deal with the EU, saw his motivation in self-enrichment and his determination to secure a second term in power in 2015.
“Viktor Yanukovich personally got from Russia a guarantee of being elected for a second term in 2015 and being recognised (by Moscow),” said Arseny Yatsenyuk, an opposition leader and former economy minister.