подключение, підключення) of Russian speaking Ukraine with the Russian "federation". When have we see this before? Do Austria and Sudetenland ring any bells? If the Ukrainians resist and fight a Russian invasion will NATO, the EU and the UN intervene? The Russian intervention in Georgia was negotiated to a ceasefire by the EU with Russian troops still occupying parts of South Ossetia and Abkhaza (20% of Georgian territory) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_South_Ossetia_war . yanukovych and putin are just biding their time. The Sochi Winter Olympics will be over Sunday, we should not be surprised to see Russian troops enter eastern and southern Ukraine within the next two weeks to defend the Russian speaking population there. Once Russia gets part of the Ukraine back the clock with start ticking for Belarus. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, beware...
“A day for the history books,” tweeted Geoffrey Pyatt, U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.
Anatoliy Zhalobaha, 33, killed in Kiev, carried with him from Lviv the anger of many in his country’s west.
Just hours after parliament voted to oust the president, his arch rival Tymoshenko, a key figure in Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution, was released from prison after serving 30 months.
Tymoshenko, suffering from a back injury, was rolled onstage in pink wheelchair. She gave an emotional, forceful speech, honoring the 88 Ukrainians killed in street fighting and by riot police since Tuesday.
The opposition leader, who still has her trademark blond braids, said that Ukraine would not be truly free until "everyone bears a responsibility for what they have done," a clear reference to the president and his ousted interior minister, who controlled the riot police that used live ammunition against protesters. "If we don't prosecute, we should be ashamed.”
She told the crowd, “You changed everything -- not the politicians, not the diplomats, you changed the world,” and called the ousted government “a dictatorship.”
Tymoshenko, a former two-term prime minister, was sentenced to seven years in prison in a 2011 trial charging her with abuse of power and embezzlement over her role in a deal to purchase natural gas from Russia. Her supporters and many Western countries said was trial and conviction were politically motivated.
In an emergency session, the Ukraine parliament voted 380 to 0 on Saturday to remove Yanukovych from office, saying he was guilty of gross human rights violations and dereliction of duty. Many of Yanukovych’s allies were absent or abstained from voting.
Then the parliament, now dominated by opposition politicians, declared that early presidential elections would be held on May 25.
Thousands filled Independence Square in the capital, which is still ringed by barricades erected by protesters and “self-defense” militias. The militia members kept order and continued to march in military columns, brandishing home-made metal shields, with wooden clubs and axes over their shoulders.
Tymoshenko, who blinked back tears several times, promised, "I am coming back to work. I won't waste a minute to make sure you are happy on your own land.”
She ran for president in 2010, but lost to Yanukovych, and most people here assume Tymoshenko would run in the May contest.
Yanukovych, his exact whereabouts unknown since Friday evening, appeared on television Saturday afternoon in a pre-recorded interview to say, “I am not planning to leave the country. I am the legitimate president and I am not going to resign.”
He called the opposition politicians in parliament “bandits,” their actions “illegal,” and described the protesters as “hooligans.”
“What we witness now resembles Nazi occupation,” Yanukovych said. “My car was shot at. But I am not afraid for my life, I am afraid for my country.”
Yanukovych said Russian President Vladimir Putin told him that he spoken with President Obama and promised, “we will negotiate,” he said.
But the White House released a statement that praised the “constructive work” done by the Ukrainian parliament and urged “the prompt formation of a broad, technocratic government of national unity.”
The statement also applauded Tymoshenko’s release from prison, saying “We wish her a speedy recovery as she seeks the appropriate medical treatment that she has long needed and sought.” It did not mention Yanukovych.
“We have been monitoring the situation very closely,” said a senior state department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because conditions remained so fluid. “What the United States and our European partners have been advocating for consistently this week is a de-escalation of violence, constitutional change, a coalition government, and early elections. The developments we are seeing on the ground are ... moving us closer to those goals.”
Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the opposition leaders in Ukraine were "pushing new demands, submitting itself to armed extremists and looters whose actions pose a direct threat to the sovereignty and constitutional order of Ukraine," according to Interfax news agency.
Ukrainians awoke Saturday morning to rumors and reports that Yanukovych had fled the country, though he is now believed to have returned to his home base in the east of the country.
The new speaker of the parliament, Oleksandr Turchynov, told his fellow deputies Saturday that Yanukovych had attempted to flee the country.
"He tried to get on a plane that was bound for the Russian Federation but was stopped by border guards. At the moment he's hiding somewhere in the Donetsk region," Turchynov said, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency. The Donetsk region is eastern Ukraine, which is where Yanukovych’s Russian-speaking political base lives.
Police surrendered the center of Kiev to protesters who had commandeered water cannon trucks and personnel carriers from retreating security forces, and claimed full control of the city.
The self-defense militia, composed of hardcore protesters wearing military surplus helmets and mismatched body armor, were enlisted to guard government buildings and direct traffic. The city was peaceful.
Tens of thousands of ordinary Ukrainians poured onto the grounds of Yanukovych’s abandoned presidential compound, 12 miles from downtown Kiev, to gawk at the manicured lawns, small zoo, golf course, botanical gardens and classic car collection.
Museum officials were working with militias to guard the presidential mansion and inventory possessions and art works they say were likely borrowed or stolen by Yanukovych from state museums and institutions.
“Who knows what he has stashed in there,” said Ihor Lihovy, a consultant for the Ukrainian national committee for the preservation of national treasures. “We have been told he was hoarded masterpieces. It is a scandal.”
Yanukovych built his mansion and its outbuildings after he was elected president in 2010. None of the Ukrainian public or media had seen inside the compound until Saturday. An elderly pensioner with a mouth full of metal teeth shouted, “What a thief!” as he took in the marble statuary.
The crowds were orderly and polite. There was no looting, few were allowed to enter the houses or outbuildings, and opposition protesters even warned visitors to keep off the grass.
A group of young people, however, somehow found their way into Yanukovych’s clubhouse and brought out golf balls and clubs and whacked a few drives down the long fairways.
Anne Gearan contributed to this report from Washington.
To get why so many people hate Viktor Yanukovych, take a tour of his ridiculously luxurious mansion
Ukrainian
President Viktor Yanukovych attends the signing of an agreement to end
the crisis in Kiev on Friday. Andrei Mosienko, AP/Presidential Press
Service/Pool)
But for many people, the problem is much simpler. It's all about President Viktor Yanukovych, who is widely believed to have used his position as the country's leader to enrich himself and his inner circle, collectively known in Ukraine as "the family."
To get an idea of why Yanukovych is so loathed by many in Ukraine, take a quick tour of his mansion in Mezhyhirya, some 12 miles outside Kiev. Now that Yanukovych has fled the capital, thousands of people, including reporters and curious bystanders, have made their way to the residence.
Here's some of what they found:
"Tasteful" galleon on Yanukovych's man-made lake RT @KonstantinBznv:pic.twitter.com/Eoy9mFe0HI #Euromaidan #Ukraine #Yanukovych”
Yanukovych's purported car collection. MT @Andriyak: А Віктор Федорович - нехилий любитель авто і мото екзотики!!!
Every President needs one of these
More happy Ukrainians having a Saturday walk in the park at Yanukovich residence. #whereisyanu #euromaidan
In any country, a president who owned a zoo or a galleon might be viewed cynically. In a country with a per capita GDP of $7,300, such indulgences might be unforgivable.
Adam Taylor writes about foreign affairs for the Washington Post. Originally from London, he studied at the University of Manchester and Columbia University. You can follow him on Twitter here.
The bitterness behind the upheaval in Ukraine
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/ukraines-yanukovych-missing-as-protesters-take-control-of-presidential-residence-in-kiev/2014/02/22/802f7c6c-9bd2-11e3-ad71-e03637a299c0_story.html?tid=pm_pophttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/02/22/to-get-why-so-many-people-hate-viktor-yanukovych-take-a-tour-of-his-ridiculously-luxurious-mansion/?tid=pm_world_pop
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