Former U.S. President Bill Clinton on Feb. 3 expressed his support for the pro-democracy EuroMaidan movement as the first signs of a settlement to Ukraine's protracted national crisis emerged in Kyiv.
One of President Viktor Yanukovych’s top allies said in an interview on ICTV channel on Feb. 3 that Ukraine’s leader is considering early presidential and parliamentary elections — a key demand by his opponents — and ruled out force in dispersing demonstrators.
However, the member of parliament — Yuriy Miroshnichenko — on Feb. 4 promptly backed off the comment in a Feb. 4 interview with Interfax-Ukraine news service. And the pro-presidential Party of Regions faction head in parliament, Oleksandr Yefremov, said Yanukovych had compromised enough by last week accepting the resignation of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, repealing anti-free speech and anti-protest laws and accepting conditional amnesty to release anti-government EuroMaidan protesters detained since the start of street demonstrations on Nov. 21.
Meanwhile, Western support for EuroMaidan and pressure on Yanukovych seem to be increasing.
“Kudos to brave Ukrainians demanding real democracy. Urge dialogue & peaceful resolution to achieve a strong, united Ukraine. They can do it!” Clinton, the American president from 1993-2001, wrote on Twitter, making him the latest in a long list of high-profile politicians and celebrities who have come out in support of the mass anti-government protests now in their third month.
Clinton’s endorsement is likely to add to the pressure on Yanukovych to reach a compromise with the demonstrations that began on Nov. 21. Clinton remains a popular figure in Ukraine, visiting the nation during his presidency and also in 2010 to support billionaire Victor Pinchuk’s anti-AIDS initiatives.
Yanukovych’s official representative in parliament, Miroshnichenko, signaled in an interview on ICTV late on Feb. 3 that the president may be willing to hold early elections and will not use force to disperse protesters.
“The president said that if politicians can’t now come to an agreement, reach joint decisions and implement them, then the only democratic way of resolving the situation is early elections,” Miroshnichenko was quoted as saying. “And he (Yanukovych) said: ‘Both you will face early elections and I will face early elections.'”
“By the way at our meeting (Party of Regions faction), the president said even though we have all the abilities to forcefully free the (protester-occupied) buildings of the city administration and even Maidan (Independence Square), ‘I would never do that,’ he said ‘because those are also our citizens’,” Miroshnychenko said, quoting Yanukovych on the “Freedom of Speech” TV show on ICTV channel.
However, Miroshnychenko appeared to back off the next day in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
The question of holding early parliamentary elections in Ukraine is currently not on the agenda, the president’s representative in parliament, Miroshnychenko said. “This issue is currently irrelevant. We have passed a law (on amnesty) and, thank God, we have moved away (from the possibility of holding early parliamentary elections),” he told Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
Miroshnychenko recalled that the scenario of early parliamentary elections had been considered before. “Yes, such a scenario existed. It existed when we were preparing to consider the bills,” he said. “The question of early elections is not on the agenda.”
Miroshnychenko was an author of a controversial amnesty law adopted by Ukrainian parliament on Jan. 28, according to which all Ukrainian protesters arrested during mass rallies in Ukraine since Nov. 21 would be released if demonstratros first leave all governmental buildings seized in Kyiv and in oblast capitals.
The protesters were given a 15-day deadline under the law, but the opposition has rejected the amnesty law and protesters say they planned to occupy the buildings until their demands for early elections are met..
Earlier, former Party Of Regions member of parliament Inna Bohoslovska said that the amnesty law “is just a break that authorities are taking” before forcefully dispersing EuroMaidan.
The United States and European Union are increasing their pressure on Yanukovych to reach a settlement. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is visiting Kyiv on Feb. 4 and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland is due in Ukraine on Feb. 6. Her visit comes after a weekend in which U.S. President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry both backed the key EuroMaidan demands and called on Yanukovych to compromise more.
Previously, Hollywood actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor George Clooney and former U.S. national security chief Zbigniew Brzezinski have made videos in support of EuroMaidan. Other stars and political leaders have sent messages of support in various ways, including on social media.
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Former U.S. national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski salutes EuroMaidan.
George Clooney
Actor George Clooney’s support for EuroMaidan
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s message to the Ukrainian people.
