Ukraine: Yanukovich accepts calls for snap election to defuse crisis
Ukraine’s embattled president Viktor Yanukovich moved on Friday to defuse the country’s worst crisis since independence by accepting calls for snap presidential elections and constitutional changes that would curb powers of the presidency, FT.com reported.
Addressing his nation through a statement posted on the presidential website as lawmakers moved to adopt legislation changing Ukraine back to a parliamentary system of government, Mr Yanukovich described the events of recent days as “tragic.”
“I am initiating snap presidential elections ... and a return to the 2004 constitution with a shift of authority towards a parliamentary republic,” he said. He also called for formation of a “national government of trust” to “preserve the lives of people, peace and calm on our land.”
He made no mention of when the early presidential election would take place, and it remained unclear if protesters would be satisfied by reports suggesting Yanukovich planned on holding the snap poll as late as December.
Yanukovich had earlier claimed on Friday to have reached a compromise deal to end the country’s violent political crisis – but EU ministers immediately raised questions and it was unclear that anti-government protesters would accept it.
The announcement followed a massacre in Kiev on Thursday in which as many as 70 Ukrainians were killed as unidentified snipers fired on protesters in the capital’s central square.
The bloodbath brought mounting international pressure on Mr Yanukovich to end the crisis, and he held talks late into the night with a trio of EU foreign ministers from Poland, Germany and France, as well as a representative from Moscow.
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