Europe and Russia spar over Ukraine
UKRAINE was at the heart of a diplomatic and financial battle between Europe and Russia last night, as the struggle for influence in the wake of the country’s revolution intensified.
After absent President Viktor Yanukovich was ousted from his position and a key ally of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko took his place, the EU said it was “ready to engage in substantial financial assistance,” while Russia said it would “provide all the support” needed for a “normalisation of the situation”.
Oleksandr Turchynov, chairman of the Ukrainian parliament, was named President yesterday by legislators after they stripped Yanukovich of his post.
Turchynov – will stay on as President until elections at the end of May – last night hinted he would forge closer ties with the EU, saying in a TV address: “We have to return to the family of European countries”.
Yanukovich is still unaccounted for after fleeing his compound in a helicopter on Saturday. Ukrainians flocked to the former President’s residence on the outskirts of Kiev after it was taken over by protesters, with pictures emerging of a golf course, helicopter pad and collection of classic cars.
Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko spoke to protesters in the capital yesterday, after being released from a prison hospital where she had been held on charges of embezzlement and corruption for more than two years. Tymoshenko spoke to crowds in Independence Square, calling the protesters heroes. A statement on her official website insisted that she did not want to be considered for the post of Prime Minister.
Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, said yesterday that the EU was “ready to engage in substantial financial assistance” assuming that a “new government which is entirely and seriously engaged in institutional and economic reforms” is formed.
And at the G20 meeting in Sydney, Russian finance minister Anton Siluanov told CNBC that the state would “provide all the support” for a “normalisation of the situation in Ukraine”.
The Russian government also said it would delay a planned $2bn (£1.65bn) purchase of Ukrainian eurobonds, given the dramatic political upheaval.
“There is a moment of opportunity now for the Ukraine after those terrible scenes, the horrific bloodshed of a few days ago,” foreign secretary William Hague told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show yesterday. “We are talking to the Russians. This is a very important question. It’s very important for us to continue to try to persuade Russia that this need not be a zero sum game.”
The German foreign ministry confirmed that chancellor Angela Merkel had spoken to Putin on the phone yesterday, agreeing that Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” and political stability was paramount.
As well as depending on Russia for much of its gas supply, Ukraine is also linked to the country through the largely Russian-speaking population of its southeastern regions.
At least 88 people have been killed and hundreds more injured during ongoing violence in the country.