Ukraine faces nationwide backlash over EU decision
Ukraine’s enraged opposition booed the country’s prime minister in parliament Friday and called for street protests against his government’s abrupt decision to drop a landmark deal with the European Union and turn toward Moscow instead.
Opposition lawmakers dressed in sweaters reading “Freedom to Ukraine” and “Ukraine is Europe” booed Mykola Azarov, started throwing stacks of paper at his ministers and headed toward his seat in order to block his scheduled speech.
Ukraine’s Cabinet on Thursday suspended preparations for signing a free trade and a political association agreement with the EU at next week’s summit. The turnaround marked a big victory for Russia, which has worked aggressively to derail the deal and keep the former Soviet republic in its orbit.
Opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk denounced the government’s decision as state treason and called on Ukrainians to join an opposition rally Sunday on Kyiv’s central square, the epicenter of massive 2004 protests dubbed the Orange Revolution, which brought pro-Western opposition figures to power.
“We will be fighting against the anti-Ukrainian, anti-European regime,” Yatsenyuk said. “Come and show who is the boss in Ukraine, fight for your rights, for your European future.”
At smaller protests already underway in Kyiv, hundreds wrapped themselves in yellow and blue Ukranian flags to hide from the rain, which failed to dampen their furor over the EU deal.
“Europe is our future, in Europe a person is treated with respect,” said Vitaliy Tokaryuk, 25, a real estate agent who had spent the night on the Independence Square.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the European Union on Friday of blackmail and pressure against Ukraine over its decision to suspend preparations for a trade pact that would have undercut Russia’s influence in Kyiv.
“We have heard threats from our European partners toward Ukraine, up to and including promoting the holding of mass protests,” Putin told a news conference after talks with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
“This is pressure and this is blackmail. Whether the Ukraine and the Ukrainian leadership will give in to such blackmail will be clear only in the next few days.”