Outgoing Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said the purpose of his resignation on Tuesday was to help settle the political crisis in Ukraine.
“Today I have made a very difficult but responsible decision – to tender my resignation as prime minister. I made that decision because I wanted to enable all our political forces to reach agreement and compromise and put an end to the crisis that has begun. My decision and the decisions that [parliament] has made today together lay a sufficient basis for compromise,” Azarov said in a statement.
Footage showing Azarov making the statement is posted on his official website.
“The unity and integrity of our country, and the possibility of its successful development is my main concern,” he said. “Ambitions are of secondary importance.”
“I am deeply grateful to the president and [parliament], who have supported the government in carrying out difficult reforms all these four years. I can honestly look our citizens in the eye: in an environment of world economic crisis, the country coped with many of the problems that were in its way. Thank you for your attention, thank you for your trust,” Azarov said.
The prime minister’s office quoted Azarov as saying in a statement: “With the aim of creating additional opportunities for a social-political compromise and for the sake of a peaceful settlement of the conflict, I have made a personal decision to ask the president of Ukraine to accept my resignation as prime minister of Ukraine.”
He said in the statement that the conflict threatened to block Ukraine’s economic and social development, and was a danger to Ukrainian society as a whole and to each Ukrainian in particular.
Several hours later President Viktor Yanukovych accepted Azarov’s resignation and dismissed his government. The ministers are to remain in office before the next government takes over.
