Mass rally marks Yanukovich’s return from Sochi | EurActiv

Mass rally marks Yanukovich’s return from Sochi | EurActiv

Ukrainian protesters kept up pressure on
President Viktor Yanukovich yesterday (9 February) with a mass rally
where opposition leaders called for an end to his "dictatorial" powers.
Yanukovich met Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the
Sochi Winter Olympics on Friday.

About 20,000 demonstrators rallied on
Kiev's Independence Square, focal point of the protest movement, as
Yanukovich searched for a new prime minister and the currency of the
heavily indebted economy, the hryvnia, remained under strain.

Russia piled further pressure on him at the weekend, linking
disbursement of the next tranche of its $15 billion (€11 billion) aid
package for Kyiv to repayment of a hefty gas bill owed to Russian firms.

Opposition speakers addressed both Yanukovich's governing style and
his decision to seek closer economic ties to Russia rather than sign a
free trade pact with the European Union.

"We want the system changed in the country - we want a system in
which the president serves the will of the people, a president who does
not have dictatorial powers," former economy minister Arseny Yatsenyuk
told the crowd.

Far-right nationalist Oleh Tyahnibok attacked Russia's influence over
Yanukovich, declaring: "Our struggle is not only against the regime of
Yanukovich, but against those who support them - against the Kremlin's
imperialistic policy."

Yanukovich met Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of
the Sochi Winter Olympics on Friday. He has since returned to Kyiv but
no word has yet filtered out on what the two men discussed.