Ukrainians continue to call for release of ex-PM Tymoshenko
President shows no sign of giving in to pressure from EU
KYIV, Ukraine Thousands of people on Wednesday kept up their nearly week-long protest against the Ukrainian government’s decision to ditch an agreement with the European Union in favour of closer ties with Russia, but officials showed no signs of relenting to their demands.
About 5,000 people gathered on Independence Square despite freezing temperatures, listening to music and singing.
A couple of thousand demonstrators also rallied earlier in the day outside the Ukrainian government building to call for the release of jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
The EU had made the release of Tymoshenko, the political rival of President Viktor Yanukovych, a condition for signing the association agreement at a summit that begins Thursday in Vilnius, Lithuania.
But Yanukovych has made no move to do so and says that Ukraine wants a better deal than the one offered by the EU.
He still plans to attend the summit.
In an open letter released late Wednesday, Tymoshenko urged European leaders to ink the deal with Ukraine without linking it to her release if Yanukovych changes his mind at the last moment.
Yanukovych’s government says Ukraine cannot afford to sacrifice trade with Russia for closer ties to the EU.
As Kyiv intensified talks with Brussels in recent months, Russia imposed punishing trade sanctions.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has blamed the turnaround on the EU’s refusal to provide financial aid to help Ukraine’s struggling economy.
Former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, an EU envoy who has pushed Yanukovych to free Tymoshenko, lamented that the West has nothing to offer Ukraine to help it overcome the “economic blockade” that Russia initiated in the summer.