ADVERTISEMENT
  • The Membership Club
  • PT Hausa
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Saturday, March 6, 2021
Premium Times Nigeria
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
Premium Times Nigeria
BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Ukraine police give protesters deadline, ministers urge calm

Ukraine police give protesters deadline, ministers urge calm

byPremium Times
December 5, 2013
3 min read

 About 3,000 demonstrators, evoking memories of the 2004-5 “Orange Revolution”, have set up an encampment at the Independence Square.

The Ukrainian police on Thursday gave demonstrators five days to leave public buildings they have occupied in protest against a government policy lurch back towards Russia.

But ministers at a European security conference urged a peaceful end to the confrontation.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister, Mykola Azarov, defended government’s handling of the crisis since Kiev walked away from a trade deal with the EU, and clashed with Germany’s foreign minister over charges that police had used excessive force against the protesters.

“Nazis, extremists and criminals cannot be, in any way, our partners in ‘euro-integration’,” the government Website quoted Azarov as telling Germany’s Guido Westerwelle, referring to protesters who have blockaded the main government offices and occupied other public buildings.

Westerwelle, who is in Kiev for a foreign ministers’ meeting of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), expressed concern about police behaviour at the protests last weekend.

“Recent events, in particular the violence against peaceful demonstrators last Saturday in Kiev worry me greatly,” said Westerwelle, who visited the main protest centre on Kiev’s Independence Square on Wednesday.

“Ukraine has a responsibility to protect peaceful demonstrators from any kind of intimidation and violence.

“The way Ukraine responds to the pro-European rallies is a yardstick for how seriously Ukraine takes the shared values of the OSCE,” he added, echoing comments of other ministers at the meeting.

RelatedNews

PDP celebrates Obasanjo at 84

Nigerian equities extend slide on profit-taking in leading stocks

Naira falls on I&E window

Nigerian police officer arrested for stealing five AK-47 rifles

The crisis has again exposed a tug-of-war in Ukraine, which has oscillated between the EU and its former masters in Moscow since the Orange Revolution nine years ago overturned the post-Soviet political order.

The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, however, accused some of his European counterparts of over-reacting to President Viktor Yanukovich’s abrupt decision last month to pursue closer trade relations with Moscow.

“This situation is linked with the hysteria that some Europeans have raised over Ukraine which, using its sovereign right, decided at the current moment not to sign any agreement which Ukrainian experts and authorities considered disadvantageous,” Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency quoted Lavrov as saying on the sidelines of the OSCE meeting.

Dangote adbanner 728x90_2 (1)

The stand-off between pro-EU protesters and the government, is taking a toll on Ukraine’s fragile economy. The Central Bank has twice been forced to support the currency this week and the cost of insuring the country’s debt against default has risen further.

But Yanukovich, who is visiting Beijing, suggested some relief could be on the way, signing documents for deals with China on agriculture, infrastructure improvement and energy.

“We have not yet calculated what the equivalent in money will be,” he was reported as saying by Interfax news agency. “But earlier we reckoned that we are talking about approximately 8 billion dollar of investment into the economy.”

China supported Yanukovich’s right to decide the direction of trade policy.

“Ukraine, domestically, is in flux,” Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cheng Guoping told reporters. “The Chinese government respects Ukraine’s internal choice; the Ukrainian government has the ability to, within the scope of the law, safeguard Ukraine’s stability in this situation.”

Ukraine faces huge problems in financing its current account deficit, with outside funding need of estimated 17 billion dollar next year to meet debt repayments and the cost of imported natural gas.

ADVERTISEMENT

Severely depleted central bank reserves are also putting Ukraine at risk of a balance-of-payments crunch.

The street protests were triggered by Yanukovich’s government abruptly announcing on November 21 that it was suspending preparations for signing an association and trade pact with the EU after years of careful negotiations and reviving trade ties instead with Russia.

The Kiev government says it has not walked away from a deal with Europe, but is taking a strategic “pause” while it seeks to negotiate a new “roadmap” with Russia to help it patch up its economy.

Azarov’s deputy, Serhiy Arbuzov, who is preparing to head Ukraine’s first high-level delegation to Brussels soon to repair some of the political damage, suggested the government might be ready to consider one of the opposition’s demands – early parliamentary elections.

But there has been no suggestion from Azarov that he is ready to go along with this idea.

In his comments to Westerwelle, at a face-to-face meeting on the sidelines of the OSCE meeting, he spoke only of not giving in to “extremist” views from the streets.

On the eve of the OSCE meeting, Westerwelle visited Independence Square focal point of the protest – with two Ukrainian opposition leaders, former economy minister Arseny Yatsenyuk and Vitaly Klitschko, a heavyweight boxing world champion.

About 3,000 demonstrators, evoking memories of the 2004-5 “Orange Revolution”, have set up an encampment there, huddling round blazing braziers, swapping anecdotes about the events of the day and following news developments on a huge TV screen.

The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in neighbouring Moldova after skipping a visit to Ukraine, said Ukrainians should be free to choose their future.

“This is about building the bridges of opportunity and defining the future of your own hopes and aspirations,” he said. “To the people of Ukraine we say the same thing; you too deserve the opportunity to choose your own future.”

(Reuters/NAN)

  • WhatsApp
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Telegram
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pocket

Support PREMIUM TIMES' journalism of integrity and credibility

Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.

For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.

By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.

Donate


TEXT AD: To advertise here . Call Willie +2347088095401...



JOIN THE CONVERSATION

  • Disqus (0)
premiumtimes



PT Mag Campaign AD

Previous Post

Malaria: Nigerian government distributes 57.7 million bed nets in 4 years – Official

Next Post

Nigeria loses N50 billion annually to fire, says minister

Premium Times

Premium Times

More News

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo

PDP celebrates Obasanjo at 84

March 5, 2021
Nigerian Police officers on duty [Photo credit: Today.ng]

Nigerian police officer arrested for stealing five AK-47 rifles

March 5, 2021
Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal [PHOTO CREDIT: @AWTambuwal]

Bandits kill 14 in Sokoto attacks

March 5, 2021
Olusegun Obasanjo

How I tested positive for COVID-19 – Obasanjo

March 5, 2021
Bankole Oloruntoba standing along side Geoffrey Onyeama Foreign Affairs Minister of Nigeria and Jyrki Pulkkinen Ambassador of Finland to Nigeria [PHOTO CREDIT: @GeoffreyOnyeama]

Finland appoints Nigerian honourary consul

March 5, 2021
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) boss, Abdulrasheed Bawa. [PHOTO CREDIT: Bashir Ahmad Twitter handle]

Fight against corruption will be intelligence-driven – Bawa

March 5, 2021
Next Post
How I survived Arepo pipeline fire, suspected vandal tells Nigerian Police

Nigeria loses N50 billion annually to fire, says minister

BREAKING NEWS: Nigerian government re-opens Abuja airport

BREAKING NEWS: Nigerian government re-opens Abuja airport

Discussion about this post

Search

#EndSARS: Latest Updates




Polaris Bank


JAIZ Ad


Access Bank Ad


NITDA Ad





Glo Ad

Subscribe to News via Email

Enter your email address and receive notifications of news by email.

Join 1,629,343 other subscribers.

Advertisement






netherland biz school Advert



Zenith Advert

ADVERTISEMENT

Our Digital Network

  • PT Hausa
  • Election Centre
  • Human Trafficking Investigation
  • Centre for Investigative Journalism
  • National Conference
  • Press Attack Tracker
  • PT Academy
  • Dubawa
  • LeaksNG
  • Campus Reporter

Resources

  • Oil & Gas Facts
  • List of Universities in Nigeria
  • LIST: Federal Unity Colleges in Nigeria
  • NYSC Orientation Camps in Nigeria
  • Nigeria’s Federal/States’ Budgets since 2005
  • Malabu Scandal Thread
  • World Cup 2018
  • Panama Papers Game
  • Our Digital Network
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Projects
  • Data & Infographics
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • Parliament Watch
    • AGAHRIN
  • Opinion
  • PT Hausa
  • The Membership Club
  • Dubawa
    • Dubawa NG
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Digital Store
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

Our website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.