Massive pro-EU protests in Ukraine: LIVE UPDATES
Protesters take part in a rally of the opposition on the Independence Square in Kiev on December 6, 2013.(AFP Photo / Sergei Supinsky)
Thousands of Ukrainians are continuing protests over the government’s suspension of a key EU trade deal. The country risks falling into chaos as the opposition calls for a change of government and police brutality has left hundreds of people injured.
Go to Part 1 of live updates.
Saturday, December 7
09:58 GMT: “Russia and Ukraine didn’t discuss the question dealing with Ukraine joining the Customs Union,” RIA Novosti reported Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.
On Friday, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych met with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to discuss a new strategic partnership agreement, Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov told foreign media.
Earlier, the Economist, citing its own sources, had claimed Ukraine had signed an agreement with Russia including Ukraine’s commitment to join the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.
09:30 GMT: “Ukrainian law enforcement forces whose duty is to maintain order in the country faced open violence and provocations,” says Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov.
According to the Ukrainian PM, he raised this issue during the meeting in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, saying that everyone should “abide by the Constitution.”
On Saturday, November, 30 Berkut riot police, using tear gas and clubs, violently dispersed the pro-EU integration protesters on Independence Square in Kiev. At least 35 people were injured in the clashes. However, police say the dispersal and beating of demonstrators came after provocations.
09:07 GMT: “Russia and Ukraine didn’t discuss the question dealing with Ukraine joining the Customs Union,” RIA Novosti reported Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.
On Friday, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych met with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to discuss a new strategic partnership agreement, Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov told foreign media.
Earlier, the Economist, citing its own sources, had claimed Ukraine had signed an agreement with Russia including Ukraine’s commitment to join the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.
08:20 GMT: Berkut riot police are guarding Kiev’s main TV center, RT correspondent Irina Galushko reports from Kiev. Local media say at least two busloads of Berkut officers are at the scene, along with several vehicles carrying regular police. The authorities are not commenting on the reason for the deployment.
07:20 GMT: Hundreds of anti-government protesters are resuming their demonstration on Independence Square in Kiev, RIA Novosti reports. The protest, which was sparked by the government’s decision to suspend talks on a trade agreement with the EU, is in its third week now.
07:18 GMT: Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov says he supports the idea of a trilateral commission to investigate the eviction of opposition activists last week, UNIAN news agency reports.
“We are ready to create an independent group which will investigate the controversies,” Azarov said during a meeting with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland.
“The commission must be impartial. Its members should abide by the Constitution of Ukraine. And first of all, the protesters should free the administrational buildings [they seized last weekend],” Azarov added.
It was Jagland who suggested the idea of an inquiry into the Kiev violence. The proposed commission would include representatives from the pro-EU opposition, the Ukrainian government and the international community.
06:18 GMT: Two protesters have been arrested by a Kiev court over the violent clashes on Bankovaya Street on December 1, Kiev police said. The court ordered that the activists, from the Road Control (Dorozhnaya Kontrol) opposition group, be held in custody for two months.
Earlier on Friday, another activist from the same group, Andrey Dzindzya, was arrested. He is suspected of stealing a tractor that was used by protesters to try to break through a police cordon near the presidential administration building in Kiev.
During the Friday hearings, scuffles erupted in the courtroom between several opposition MPs and bailiffs. While the court was in session, dozens of protesters blocked the courthouse, demanding the release of Dzindzya.
05:45 GMT: The leader of the opposition party Strike (Udar), Vitaly Klitchko, voiced three key conditions for a start of negotiations with the government, UNIAN news agency reports. He demanded the release 14 Maidan activists who had been arrested by the authorities. The opposition is also demanding the prosecution of police officers responsible for brutality against activists and journalists, and is calling for the resignation of Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko.
Klitchko made a comparison between Ukraine and Latvia, where several senior government officials, including Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, resigned after the deadly collapse of a shopping mall.
“Azarov’s government which led the country into economic and political crisis even doesn’t think about resignation,” Klitchko said.
01:20 GMT: Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, met to discuss a new strategic partnership agreement, Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov told foreign media, Itar-Tass reported.
"The issue on the agenda was drafting a major strategic partnership agreement with Russia, complemented with a road map eliminating disputes over trading and economic issues," Azarov said."Ukraine and Russia are determined to fully eliminate the contradictions that have piled up in bilateral relations over the past three and a half years, including controversies over the gas supply contract and the disruption of industrial cooperation."
Friday, December 6
14:45 GMT: Yulia Tymoshenko has abandoned her hunger strike in protest against the government’s refusal to sign the EU trade deal, which she began on November 25. The news was told by her daughter to UNIAN news agency.
12:50 GMT: A statement from retired security officials says that the country risks falling into a “state of chaos” and condemns all sides for escalating the stand-odd in the country.
“Constitutional standards are being replaced by political or other imperatives, chaos and irresponsibility, as was demonstrated by the excessive use of force by the government, and the occupation of government offices by the opposition,” said an open letter on the official security services website.
12:40 GMT: Supporters of the nine demonstrators arrested following the failed storm of the president’s office on Sunday have staged a 'lie-in' outside the General Prosecutor’s office, demanding their release.
“By overstepping the law, the prosecutors are ‘stepping over’ Ukrainian citizens,” said a statement from the Democratic Alliance party, explaining the symbolism of the protest.
11:13 GMT: The leader of Opposition Batkivschina (Fatherland) party Arseny Yatsenyuk said that the leaders of the opposition, including Yatsenyuk himself, are to be questioned by the prosecutor’s office, the “Ukrainskays Pravda” newspaper reports.
10:00 GMT: Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that the West is meddling in Ukraine’s internal business.
“All these issues must be dealt with by the Ukrainian leadership and society – not foreigners, not even Russia. Everyone must behave in a proper manner.”
“Just imagine what our German partners would feel if a Russian FM simply showed up at some public anti-government gathering there. I don’t think they would view that as a very friendly move.”
“To show up somewhere is one thing. But to participate is to meddle in other people’s internal affairs,” the PM said.
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