Embattled Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych offered top government positions to opposition leaders Arseniy Yatseniuk and Vitali Klitschko on Saturday in a deal meant to end unrest and resolve Ukraine's current political gridlock.
Ukrainian Justice Minister Olena Lukash said in a statement published to the presidential website that Yanukovych said he would dismiss current Prime Minister Mykola Azarov if Batkivschyna party leader Yatseniuk agrees to replace him. The president extended the position of deputy prime minister of humanitarian affairs to boxer-turned-UDAR party leader Klitschko.
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Klitschko commented on the offer, and Yatseniuk has yet to respond.
“Presidential elections this year are our main goal, and we are not stepping back,” Klitschko told the crowd of several thousand at Independence Square, without elaborating on whether he would decline Yanukovych's offer. “We are holding our positions on Maidan [Independence Square] and in the regions. Negotiations will go on.”
The deal came after more than three hours of negotiations with opposition leaders, and during what has been the most tumultuous week since anti-government protests began two months ago.
Yanukovych’s decision to reject a political and trade deal with the European Union sparked the protests in late November. But it was violent police actions against protesters in December that brought crowds of more than 100,000 to Independence Square in downtown Kiev.
Brutal clashes between police and protesters this week further inflamed protesters, who responded by taking over more than a dozen government buildings in nearly as many regions of the country.
As part of Yanukovych’s deal, all protesters arrested during mass demonstrations would be released if those on Kiev's Hrushevskoho Street leave. At least two men are dead after police and protesters clashed there this week.
Yanukovych would also consider amending Ukraine's constitution to roll back his powers, and hold public debates with Klitschko, who is thought to be his likeliest challenger in presidential elections next year. Klitstchko has surpassed the incumbent in multiple independent polls conducted over the past several months.
The deal would also provide amnesty for protesters in exchange for returning control of government buildings seized by anti-government protesters in 13 regions to authorities. Those buildings include Kyiv city hall and the Trade Unions building, which protesters have occupied since Dec. 1.
It was not immediately clear what the thousands of protesters on Independence Square, or Euromaidan as it is called, thought of the deal. At least one expressed concern, saying that civil society would surely reject it.
"Right now, we control almost half of the country; we’ve taken over government building[s] in all of western Ukraine,” activist Kateryna Kruk told Mashable by phone after the deal was announced. “And now [Ukrainians] are waking up in the south and east. We are in very good position [to force Yanukovych] out of office.”
“I don’t think the people on Maidan [Independence Square] will support this idea. As we discussed possible negotiations earlier, people were very angry. They didn’t even want the opposition to negotiate with the president,” Kruk added.
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Christopher J. Miller is an editor at English-language newspaper the Kyiv Post in Ukraine.