Ukrainian opposition leader: "close presidential aides gave riot police order"
- 11 years ago
Ukraine’s pro-Europe protests have seen politicians and public alike demonstrating on the streets of Kiev in their thousands.
Increasingly vocal after a failed vote of no confidence, prominent opposition MPs appear keen to maintain pressure on the country’s government.
Among them, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, leader of Ukraine’s second-largest parliamentary force, Fatherland, who recently held talks with Germany’s Foreign Minister.
Euronews has spoken to the Ukrainian politician and began by asking him if there is now a chance of calling a snap election.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk: “This is the ultimate goal of the opposition to call snap presidential and parliamentary elections, but we are very realistic; it is not an easy job to topple this president. President Yanukovich will never step down, but in case Ukrainian people do what they are doing for a quite extensive period of time they are fighting for their civil rights and liberty, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians run a peaceful rally against this government, this president and for the EU integration we can reach our goal.”
Sergio Cantone (Euronews): “Who gave the order for the intervention of riot police in Maidan last Saturday. Did they came from above, from the president basically?”
Arseniy Yatsenyuk: “I do believe that his close aids, like national security adviser Kluyev, like other guys who are responsible for the control of law enforcement office were engaged in this and are responsible for this.”
Increasingly vocal after a failed vote of no confidence, prominent opposition MPs appear keen to maintain pressure on the country’s government.
Among them, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, leader of Ukraine’s second-largest parliamentary force, Fatherland, who recently held talks with Germany’s Foreign Minister.
Euronews has spoken to the Ukrainian politician and began by asking him if there is now a chance of calling a snap election.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk: “This is the ultimate goal of the opposition to call snap presidential and parliamentary elections, but we are very realistic; it is not an easy job to topple this president. President Yanukovich will never step down, but in case Ukrainian people do what they are doing for a quite extensive period of time they are fighting for their civil rights and liberty, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians run a peaceful rally against this government, this president and for the EU integration we can reach our goal.”
Sergio Cantone (Euronews): “Who gave the order for the intervention of riot police in Maidan last Saturday. Did they came from above, from the president basically?”
Arseniy Yatsenyuk: “I do believe that his close aids, like national security adviser Kluyev, like other guys who are responsible for the control of law enforcement office were engaged in this and are responsible for this.”