Participants in the pro-EU rally on Kyiv's Independence Square, or Maidan Nezalezhnosti, say they demand Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych not sign an agreement on Ukraine's accession to the Customs Union during his visit to Moscow on December 17.
“We warn Yanukovych seriously against an attempt to bring us back to the past and we utterly prohibit him from signing the agreement on joining the Customs Union,” Deputy of the Batkivschyna faction, former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Borys Tarasiuk said while reading a resolution at the Maidan.
The resolution says that the Customs Union means not only the absence of democratic elections, but also corrupt courts, political repression, boundless corruption, Soviet-style economy and low living standards. In addition, the document notes that the Customs Union is “the community of eternal presidents,” thus it is so appealing to Yanukovych.
The resolution also says that the Customs Union “was created for the benefit of only one country – Russia.” “Ukraine will no longer be a province of the Russian Empire, it will become an EU member,” the resolution says.
Protesters voted for the resolution by raising their hands, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported.
The Maidan has scheduled another popular assembly at 1800 on Tuesday, December 17, when the agreement on Ukraine’s accession to the Customs Union is to be signed in Moscow.
The Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia was formed on January 1, 2010 between the states of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia.
