Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych will discuss the political crisis in Kiev when the two meet on the sidelines of the opening ceremony for the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi tomorrow, the Kremlin said.
“He will indeed be there and they will indeed meet,” Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “They will discuss bilateral ties.”
Earlier this week, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Leonid Kozhara said Yanukovych planned to travel to Sochi for the start of the Games.
Yanukovych, who was set to meet EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton yesterday, has been battling two months of protests against his rule and has accepted the resignation of his prime minister and the entire Cabinet in a key concession to the opposition.
Ashton dined with opposition leaders after arriving in Kiev on Tuesday.
In December last year, Russia promised Ukraine a US$15 billion bailout package to prop up the ex-Soviet nation’s recession-hit economy and has already released the first US$3 billion tranche.
However, Putin last week put the financing on hold pending the formation of a new government in Kiev. Ashton has raised the possibility of financial aid from Brussels and Washington, but one EU diplomat has said that it would be hard to match Russia’s package.
Meanwhile, in a fresh bid to try to overcome the two-month stalemate between the government and the opposition, the Ukrainian parliament was set to debate constitutional amendments to curb presidential powers.
In a major concession to the protest movement, Yanukovych is also considering calling an early election to resolve the crisis, according to a senior lawmaker.
Yet the opposition accuses the Ukrainian leader, who faces an election next year, of seeking to win time rather than put an end to a turmoil that left several people dead and turned parts of the capital, Kiev, into a battle zone.
After meeting Yanukovych for another round of talks, boxer-turned-politician Vitali Klitschko said the president told him that constitutional reform could take up to six months.
“I told him we don’t have time,” the 42-year-old pugilist said, adding that the president did not appear to be willing to solve the crisis. “This is an irresponsible position for a state leader.”
US Vice President Joe Biden urged Yanukovych on Tuesday to pursue dialogue and compromise as he called for the “immediate” pulling back of riot police.
In a phone call, Biden “emphasized that the only viable path to peace and stability in Ukraine is through continued dialogue and genuine compromise to form a new government that can earn the confidence of the Ukrainian people,” the White House said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese