Ukraine president abandons the capital, dismissed by parliament

Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych abandoned Kyiv on Feb. 21 after signing a compromise agreement that afternoon with the political opposition, brokered by European diplomats, which would have required him to surrender much of his authority. The agreement was rejected by the EuroMaidan protest movement, which declared an ultimatum requiring Yanukovych to surrender the presidency by the next day or face a forceful capture after violence in the previous three days claimed more than 100 lives, an unprecedented death toll for independent Ukraine. The president reportedly failed to sign the parliamentary legislation that was approved as part of the compromise, including returning the 2004 constitutional amendments.

 

A constitutional parliamentary majority voted on Feb. 22 to dismiss Yanukovych from the presidency. The resolution declared that Yanukovych removed himself unconstitutionally from fulfilling his constitutional authority, which threatens the state’s governability, its territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, and the mass violation of rights and freedoms of citizens. The resolution designated presidential elections for May 25.

 

The same afternoon, a defiant Yanukovych gave a television interview in which he declared he was not resigning and would not abandon the country. “I am remaining on Ukraine’s territory,” he said. “I will call upon all international observers, all intermediaries who participated in this political conflict to stop the bandits. This isn’t an opposition. These are bandits.” Yanukovych compared the revolution to the rise of Nazis in Germany. “They banned parties, just as now they’re banning the Party of Regions, Communist Party. They create stereotypes, persecute, beat, burn buildings, offices. More than 200 offices were burned in Ukraine,” he said.

 

Yanukovych also said that his close ally and then-speaker of parliament Volodymyr Rybak had been beaten in Kyiv and his car was damaged, though the same day Rybak said that such information is “absurd” and “fiction.”

 

Oleksandr Yefremov, the chair of the Party of Regions parliamentary faction, delivered a Feb. 23 statement laying full blame of the civil conflict and deaths on Yanukovych and his entourage. He condemned Yanukovych for fleeing his post, labeling it a betrayal. “We, the Party of Region faction in the Verkhovna Rada and our fellow party members, resolutely condemn the criminal orders that led to human losses, an empty Treasury, enormous dents, shame in the eyes of the Ukrainian people and the whole world, the result of which our state was on the brink of an abyss, threatened with a split a loss of national sovereignty. The million-member party practically became hostage to one corrupt family,” the statement said.

 

Yefremov also accused the pro-Western opposition for engaging in intimidation, lynch mobbing and destabilizing the situation in Ukraine’s regions, all of which is “unacceptable in a democratic society.”

 

Zenon Zawada: It was unexpected that Yanukovych would abandon the presidency so soon, yet nothing is impossible in Ukrainian politics. Yanukovych was last reported attempting to flee Ukraine on a charter plane from Donetsk, having been denied, as well as by sea from a Crimean port. Certainly, we expect Yanukovych will have to be brought before a court for the crimes he committed against his people.

 

It was also surprising to see the Party of Regions, which Yanukovych led for nearly 12 years, abandon its leader so quickly. Yet recent statements from the Party of Regions’ leaders indicate their plans to keep their party intact, with some remodeling. Serhiy Tihipko, an oligarch politician widely believed to have been pressured to become a Party of Regions member, instead gave a Feb. 23 interview declaring his loyalty to the party, which we believe will remain influential despite the 80 MPs reported to have defected.

 

It’s our hope that a non-partisan technical government will emerge, particularly in the economy-related ministries. Regardless if it’s formed by technocrats or opposition politicians (or a combination), the new government will face a difficult test of turning the economy around. If it fails, what’s left of the Party of Regions will be ready to take back command.