Ukraine leader blasts protests as West mulls aid
Picture: AFP
Kyiv. Ukraine’s president took a hard line on Monday, blasting protests against his rule as “extremism” on the eve of a parliament session where his opponents will push for concessions, AFP reported.
The scathing comments came as the EU and US discussed possible aid for Ukraine in return for democratic reforms, and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton prepared to fly in on Tuesday.
Returning to work after four days of sick leave, President Viktor Yanukovych slammed the anti-government movement as “radicalism and incitement to hatred behind which there is a struggle for power”.
He also appeared to link militants to Nazis, calling for “a community of wholesome people without the Nazism, racism and xenophobia that remind us of the terrible lessons of history” in his first public comments since Thursday.
There is growing international pressure for an end to the two-month standoff, triggered when Ukraine walked away from a political and trade deal with the EU in favour of closer ties with Soviet-era master Moscow.
US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland is also due to visit Ukraine this week to keep pressure on Yanukovych as thousands remain camped out on Independence Square and in occupied buildings in the capital.
The mass protests have set off sparks between Russia and the West and claimed the lives of at least two protesters and two policemen.
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