Ukraine Crisis
Reason :
- Public
protests started in December 2013 over President Viktor Yanukovych’s
decision to abandon a deal with the European Union in favour of aid and
natural gas agreements with Russia.
Effects
- Ukraine’s Prime Minister Mykola Azarov tendered his resignation in order to facilitate “peaceful settlement” of the political crisis even as the Parliament repealed the harsh anti-protest laws that triggered violent anti-government protests in Jan 2014
President took Steps :
- Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych has signed into law repeal of anti-protest laws and a controversial amnesty for protesters.
- The
opposition supported the bill scrapping harsh anti-protest laws which
had triggered violent clashes with police last week, but rejected the
amnesty bill because it was conditional on protesters vacating
government offices they seized in the capital Kiev and other cities.
- Mr.
Yanukovych has softened his position by putting an amnesty for
protesters through Parliament and by offering the prime ministership and
deputy prime ministership to the respective opposition leaders, Arseny
Yatsenyuk and Vitali Klitschko. But the opposition parties are furious
that the amnesty requires the protesters to vacate the occupied
buildings, and the offer of political posts has been rejected.
Background :
- Ukraine is a prize in a geostrategic tussle between Russia and the West.
- To start with, the President’s policies since his election in 2010 have
troubled a substantial section of Ukraine’s 46 million people,
especially those in the western regions, who support accession to the EU. Eastern Ukrainians, however, prefer closer links with Russia.
- Secondly, the EU deal was tied to an IMF bailout that would require public-spending cuts and higher gas prices.
- Thirdly,
NATO and Ukraine have held joint exercises, which they have
progressively enlarged, though Parliament cancelled the 2009 manoeuvres.
