Bonfires, borscht, humor in Kiev protest camp

December 07, 2013

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — While thousands of demonstrators call for ousting Ukraine's leaders, Yuri Onishchenko is also worrying about matters more pedestrian, such as where to find wool socks to help the demonstrators keep warm in snowy December weather.

As the acting head of the sizable protest tent camp in Kiev's central square, Onishchenko takes the lead in making sure the demonstrators have what they need to keep the flame of their passions burning.

The camp on Independence Square is both makeshift and sophisticated. Barricades of wooden pallets, fence sections and other scavenged material give the perimeter a rough appearance, and wood fires in large barrels add a primitive touch inside the barricades. But there's also a large stage with first-class lighting and sound system, and even a vast video screen to show the proceedings. Demonstrators can feed at field kitchens, dance to bands and even consult a volunteer psychologist.

The protests were sparked by President Vitkor Yanukvoych's refusal to sign a key pact with the European Union in favor of ties with Moscow and the violent police breakup of a peaceful rally protesting that decision.

Dozens of tents decorated with Ukrainian and EU flags sprung up in the square, some placed in the dry basins of the large fountains that young people love to jump into during the summer. The tents are covered with slogans denouncing Yanukovych and the police.

On Friday, as a light snow fell, some protesters warmed themselves up at the barrel fires and others lined up to receive hot tea with jam, part of the provisions that Ukrainians are donating to the camp.

Besides seizing the square, demonstrators also occupied the nearby city administration building, a concert hall and a labor union building, where most of the protesters sleep and use the bathrooms. Some shower in hotel rooms rented by opposition lawmakers, others are welcomed by sympathetic Kiev residents.

While the government demanded that the buildings be vacated, the protesters disagreed. "The Kiev City administration represents the population of Kiev. Therefore, this building is ours, it belongs to the people," Onischenko said, just after getting off the phone with someone he hoped could find socks to donate.

Iryna Horda, and 18-year-old student, rushed to the square as soon as her classes ended Friday afternoon, hours after her father had completed his overnight shift at the camp. Bundled in a winter jacket and a scarf, Horda lined up to receive a plateful of buckwheat, with two pickles and a slice of yellow pepper on the side, along with an open-face ham sandwich.

"I don't like how we live in this country. I don't like to be under the grip of Yanukovych," said Horda, who works in the camp's field kitchen, slicing bread, cheese and delivering food to organizers. "The future of our country is being decided now."

Nearby, 17-year-old Kostya Yarmulsky, a student at a forest rangers' school from the southern Mykolaiv region, stood vigil at the entrance to the camp, wearing a bright orange hardhat to protect him from riot police truncheons, which he felt on his back and neck last Saturday. "They surrounded us and simply started beating us. We fled, each his own way," Yarmulsky recalled.

For those protesters feeling under the weather Dr. Pavlo Vnesok, 49, was giving out medicine from a large beige tent labeled with a big red cross and sending out "mobile brigades" to disinfect the protesters' hands to avoid the spread of infection. The most common complaints were sore throats, runny noses and wet feet — all from standing out in the cold for hours at a time. "In order to fight, one must be healthy," Vnesok said.

Nearby, Father Yuriy, from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kiev Patriarchate, which broke away from the Moscow church after the Soviet collapse, was leading prayers that called for peace and love near a large wooden cross.

"We are supporting these people in their fight for liberty and freedom, which God granted to each man," Father Yuri said. As fears of yet another break-up of the demonstrations persisted, hundreds of retired military men, including those who fought during the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan, descended on the protest camp to protect the activists.

"We have become a live shield between the authorities, riot police and the people, so that blood, the blood of our children, is not spilled," said veteran Vasyl Hryhorenko, 46, a beefy man clad in camouflage uniform.

There's a good amount of fun available to the demonstrators. Music blasts from loudspeakers, bands alternate with orators on the stage, and the huge video screen hanging on the side of the trade unions building shows everything at super-size, having come under the control of demonstrators when they seized the building.

Humor also plays a big role. One evening this week, activists mounted a suitcase on the stage and demonstrated to the crowd a giant train ticket to Russia written out to Yanukovych. The joke hit home well.

How long can the protests go on, in freezing temperatures and Spartan conditions? "Until New Year, until spring, until summer, until next fall," said Horda, the kitchen volunteer. "My parents and I will stand here until the very end."

Ukraine official rejects early elections demand

December 05, 2013

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A top Ukrainian official on Thursday rejected the opposition's demand for early presidential elections amid major street protests gripping the country, as Western officials scramble to help work out a solution to the crisis.

Thousands of angry Ukrainians have been rallying for days against President Viktor Yanukovych's abrupt decision to freeze ties with the European Union and then the use of force by riot police on demonstrators.

But Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov told 1+1 television ruled out the protesters' main demand of the Cabinet's resignation and pre-term presidential elections. "I don't see any sense in that," Arbuzov said. "There is no budget for early elections."

Meanwhile, Europe's top human-rights body said Thursday that Ukraine's government and opposition leaders seeking its downfall have accepted a proposal to create a panel to investigate the past week's violence against protesters.

Council of Europe spokesman Daniel Holtgen told The Associated Press the panel would include one member each, nominated by the government and the opposition, and that the council would nominate a third member who has substantial human right credentials.

The violent dispersal of protesters by club-swinging police Saturday and Sunday exacerbated opposition anger that was already high over President Viktor Yanukovych's shelving of an agreement to establish closer economic ties with the European Union.

Protesters are gathering on the Ukrainian capital's central square around the clock and are occupying the city administration building, along with blocking access to government offices. The move comes as a Kiev court ordered the demonstrators occupying the city administration building to get out by Monday and the city's police chief warned of violence if they don't.

"We are trying not to use force. But if there are violations of the law, we will act decisively and harshly," Valery Mazan said, according to the Interfax news agency. No nominations for the panel have been put forth, Holtgen said, and it is unclear when it would begin work. But "transparency and acceptance of this investigation will be the first step to rebuilding trust in Ukraine," Council of Europe head Thorbjorn Jagland said in a statement.

Western diplomats urged Ukrainian authorities Thursday to respect the huge protests gripping the country. Several thousand activists kept up the demonstrations in Kiev as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's ministerial council began its meeting on the other side of the river. The meeting had been scheduled long before the protests that have been dominating the country.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland challenged Ukrainian authorities to meet the protests constructively. "This is Ukraine's moment to meet the aspirations of its people or disappoint them," she told the OSCE meeting. "Democratic norms and the rule of law must be upheld."

Britain's minister for Europe, David Liddington, called on authorities to respect the right of citizens to "peacefully assemble." "The eyes of the world are on Ukraine today," he said. Prime Minister Mykola Azarov tried to put a positive spin on the tense situation, saying the protests "are a completely normal development in a country where democracy is developing."

"We will do everything we can to ensure this is a peaceful protest," Azarov said. But Yulia Tymoshenko, the jailed former prime minister and a top opposition leader, urged for the peaceful protests to continue with renewed vigor. Tymoshenko is serving a seven-year term on charges the West calls politically motivated.

"Talk on the streets isn't enough," she said in a statement. "The people of Ukraine need to urgently take power into their own hands and not make sweet talk with a dictator." With Yanukovych away in China, the government showed no sign of yielding to the protests. Police have promised not to use force, but law enforcement bodies were detaining and investigating scores of opposition activists.

Azarov has also warned several pro-EU western cities in Ukraine which have gone on a strike that the central government in Kiev might cut off funding to them. The demonstrators were sparked by Yanukovych's decision to ditch a significant treaty with the 28-nation European Union after strong pressure from Russia. They were also galvanized by riot police's violent breakup of a small, peaceful rally last month.

Azarov chided the demonstrators, who have occupied or blocked government buildings, saying they are contradicting the values that they claim to support. "That is not the European way forward," Azarov said of the building occupations.

He also said Ukraine remains committed to moving forward with the EU association and characterized Yanukovych's shelving of the signing as only a pause. "The timeout we have taken is clearly taken only because of economic difficulties," he said.

Ukraine says it can't absorb the trade losses with Russia it likely would suffer if it had signed the EU agreement last month. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking directly after Nuland at the conference, notably didn't mention the Ukrainian protests, which have had a strong anti-Russian element.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's government is determined to bring Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, back into its area of influence.

OSCE meeting opens in Kiev, gripped by protests

December 05, 2013

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Foreign diplomats have converged on a tense Ukrainian capital, which is gripped by massive protests against the government's decision to freeze ties with the EU and turn to Moscow instead.

Several thousand activists continued rallying on a central square and besieging government meetings early Thursday as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's ministerial council began its meeting in a conference center on the other side of the river.

Prime Minister Mykola Azarov told the meeting that the protests "are a completely normal development in a country where democracy is developing." "We will do everything we can to ensure this is a peaceful protest," he said.

With President Viktor Yanukovych away in China, the government showed no sign of yielding to protests. Police have promised not to use force, but law enforcement bodies were detaining and investigating scores of opposition activists.

The demonstrators were sparked by Yanukovych's decision ditch a significant treaty with the European Union after strong pressure from Russia. They were also galvanized by a violent break-up of a small, peaceful rally last month.

The protesters are demanding the government resign and that early elections be called. Azarov chided the demonstrators who have occupied or blocked government buildings, saying they are contradicting the values they claim to support.

"That is not the European way forward," Azarov said of the building occupations. He also said Ukraine remains committed to moving forward with the EU association and characterized Yanukovych's shelving of the signing as only a pause.

"The timeout we have taken is clearly taken only because of economic difficulties," he said. Ukraine says it now cannot absorb the trade losses with Russia it likely would suffer if it had signed the EU agreement last month.

Boxing champ turns opposition leader in Ukraine

December 04, 2013

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Towering over his fellow protest leaders, Vitali Klitschko, the reigning world heavyweight boxing champion, has emerged as Ukraine's most popular opposition figure and has ambitions to become its next president.

Thanks to his sports-hero status and reputation as a pro-Western politician untainted by Ukraine's frequent corruption scandals, the 6-foot 7-inch Klitschko has surpassed jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in opinion polls.

As massive anti-government protests continue to grip Ukraine, the 42-year-old boxer-turned-politician is urging his countrymen to continue their fight to turn this ex-Soviet republic into a genuine Western democracy.

"This is not a revolution. It is a peaceful protest that demands justice," Klitschko told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. "The people are not defending political interests. They are defending the idea of living in a civilized country."

Dubbed Dr. Ironfist for his prowess in the boxing ring, Klitschko has scored 45 victories in 47 fights, 41 of them with knockouts. He has successfully defended his title 11 times, most recently in September 2012, and plans to have one more bout before he retires. He still spends several hours a day training.

Now Klitschko must prove that he has as much stamina in the political arena. Despite earning a doctorate in sports science, Klitschko has had to fight a stereotype of being intellectually unfit to run this economically troubled nation of 46 million.

Having been raised — like many Ukrainians — in a Russian-speaking family, Klitschko only recently learned Ukrainian and sometimes struggles to find the right word. Still, he appeals to many Ukrainians with his air of sincerity and his image as a handsome tough guy ready to defend his compatriots.

"He is a national hero and comes across as being decent," said Andreas Umland, assistant professor of European studies at the Kyiv Mohyla Academy. Klitschko was one of only a few opposition politicians who tried to stop several hundred radical protesters from storming President Viktor Yanukovych's office during a demonstration Sunday that drew hundreds of thousands to the streets of the capital, Kiev.

As the boxer called for peace, the jubilant crowd chanted his name. Beside him stood his wife, Natalia, an attractive brunette and former model who recently launched a singing career. The couple has three children.

The angry protests were sparked by the president's abrupt decision last month to ditch a political and economic treaty with the 28-nation European Union in favor of closer economic ties with Russia, which had threatened Ukraine with trade consequences if the country signed the EU deal.

On Wednesday, his party joined two other opposition parties in blockading the Ukrainian parliament as part of a nationwide strike. The demonstrations in Kiev were galvanized when Yanukovych's government sent in riot police with truncheons to break up a small, peaceful rally in the middle of the night, injuring dozens.

"They took away people's hope to implement reforms, to change the situation in the country," Klitschko told the AP, speaking inside the parliament building. "They stole our hope." Klitschko made his first foray into politics during the country's 2004 Orange Revolution, the mass protests that led to the annulment of Yanukovych's fraud-tainted presidential win and ushered in a pro-Western government. Fresh from a victory in the ring in the United States, Klitschko flew to Kiev and appeared in the heart of those protests wearing an orange scarf, the symbol of the revolution.

Next to him stood his brother, Wladimir Klitschko, now 37, another heavyweight world boxing champion who is engaged to the American actress Hayden Panettiere, star of the TV series "Nashville." After two failed attempts to be elected mayor of Kiev, Klitschko entered national politics last year when his pro-Western Udar party — Punch in English — finished a strong third in the parliamentary election, running on a reform and anti-corruption platform. He was able to capitalize on popular anger with Yanukovych, who quickly undid many of the democratic victories of the Orange Revolution, and with voters' disillusionment with the Orange leaders, now in opposition, including Tymoshenko.

A year before the 2012 election, Tymoshenko was jailed for abuse of office, charges the West considers politically motivated. Klitschko has joined other opposition leaders in campaigning for the release of Tymoshenko, long Yanukovych's biggest political rival.

Klitschko was born in 1971 in Kyrgyzstan, then part of the Soviet Union, to a school teacher mother and a father whose job as an army pilot took the family to remote military bases across the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

He embraced Western values while training in Germany and the United States for matches, he says, and wants to bring that mindset home to Ukraine. "Those people who are in politics (now) do not make it their goal to change the country," Klitschko said. "They are simply plundering the country."

Unlike many Ukrainian politicians — including Tymoshenko — who are accused of making their fortunes in shady business deals in the tumultuous post-Soviet era, Klitschko's millions come from a transparent source — the boxing ring.

An opinion poll in September predicted he would get 15.5 percent of the vote in the first round of a presidential election, compared to Tymoshenko's 13.2 percent. Yanukovych would get 19 percent, but he would lose to Klitschko in a run-off, according to the Razumkov Center survey of 2,010 respondents. It had a margin of error of two percentage points.

Klitschko's political star has only risen since then. In October, he announced he would run for the presidency in early 2015, even though parliament, dominated by Yanukovych's allies, passed a law that sought to bar Klitschko from running on the grounds that he spent several years in Germany and paid taxes there.

Klitschko was appalled, calling Ukrainian politics a dirty business, unlike anything he has seen in boxing. "It's impossible to compare them because in boxing there are rules. In Ukrainian politics, the rules are absent," Klitschko said.

Klitschko has kept his two careers separate — never joining other Ukrainian lawmakers in the frequent brawls that have marred parliament. "Physical force plays no role in politics. The power of thought is much stronger," Klitschko said.

How good are Ukrainian lawmakers at throwing punches, anyway? "If you judge this from the standpoint of (my) profession, they don't have any talent," he said.

Former Ukrainian presidents warn of chaos

December 04, 2013

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — As protests roiled the Ukrainian capital and other cities, three of the country's former presidents on Wednesday gave support to the demonstrators and warned the tensions could be spinning into an uncontainable crisis.

Separately, the head of the Council of Europe, the continent's main human rights body, met with government officials and opposition members to try to persuade them to enter into dialogue, but said many in Ukraine are resistant to compromise.

The head of Ukraine's police ordered his officers not to use force against peaceful demonstrators, a statement indicating that officials are aware of how the club-swinging dispersal of protesters this week galvanized already strong anger over the president's shelving of a long-awaited pact with the European Union.

Thousands rallied again Wednesday night on Kiev's central square — where protesters have erected barricades on feeder streets — and other demonstrators were blocking the cabinet of ministers, a show of determination to press their demands for the government to step down.

But the government is showing no sign of yielding and a resolution remained elusive. In a statement released to Ukrainian news agencies, Ukraine's first three post-Soviet leaders said "we express solidarity with the peaceful civil actions of hundreds of thousands of young Ukrainians."

"However, a solution to the crisis has not been found. The crisis is deepening and we see risks of losing control over the situation," said the statement from Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko.

Council of Europe head Thorbjorn Jagland said after his meeting with opposition figures and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov that "we are trying to find out whether and how a dialogue can be established. But I have also seen that too many are focusing on how to aggravate the situation."

He did not specify if the aggravators were among officials, protest leaders or fringe elements. Opposition leaders remained vehement. "The blockade of administrative offices will continue," declared Oleh Tyanhybok, head of the nationalist Svoboda party.

Azarov urged the opposition to end its blockade of government buildings and warned the western regions of the country — where protest strikes were announced — that they may be left without federal funding.

Azarov survived a chaotic no-confidence vote in parliament on Tuesday. Law enforcement bodies have brought dozens of charges against demonstrators, and nine people remain in detention following Sunday's rally, when several hundred thousand protested Yanukovych's decision and the use of force against a handful of peaceful demonstrators at an earlier protest.

"We must decide all this in a calm environment. Not in the streets, but in a responsible dialogue," Azarov told a Cabinet meeting. Demonstrators have set up scores of tents on Kiev's Independence Square and blocked several streets leading to it with tall barricades of wooden pallets and random material. Large piles of wood dot the square, fuel for fires that keep the demonstrators warm in the freezing temperatures.

"We are now defending ... 46 million people. Either they will defeat us, or we will defeat them," opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk told reporters. Last month, Yanukovych's government abruptly halted preparations to sign the key political and economic agreement with the EU and focus on ties with Russia instead. Russia has used strong economic pressure to derail the deal, unwilling to lose the former part of its empire to the West.

The EU has maintained that it is still open to a deal, with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy saying Wednesday that it "stands ready to respond to the deep European aspirations of the people of Ukraine, very present and visible these days."

Anger is also growing about the status of the nine demonstrators who were beaten and arrested. Officials have said the action was in response to provocations by the demonstrators, but supporters of the arrested say radical nationalists were responsible.

Six of those arrested are in intensive care and three others are in jail medical units, their relatives told a news conference on Wednesday. They complained the men have been denied adequate legal help.

"They didn't even allow us to send him a lawyer," said Yana Stepanova, the fiancee of Mykola Lazarovskyi, one of those in intensive care. She said she had lost touch by telephone with him during the demonstration on Sunday, then heard from friends that riot police had routed the protesters.

Hours later, he called and "he said just two words, that he was in the hospital," she said. Supporters of those arrested say state lawyers who had not met the defendants represented the arrested at court hearings and alleged that independent lawyers are being intimidated against taking any of the cases. The arrested face a possible seven years in prison if convicted of charges of organizing mass protests.

Nina Bolotova, whose husband Yuri was among them, sarcastically cast doubt on authorities' claim that the arrested were the organizers of the provocations. "It's interesting to me that out of so many people, the law-enforcement agencies were able to detain the specific organizers," she said.

Ukraine mass protests resume after gov't wins vote

December 03, 2013

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine appeared mired in a political standoff Tuesday, as massive protest rallies showed no sign of letting up and the government warned of its capability for force after a failed attempt to take it down.

The opposition lost its attempt to topple the government by parliamentary means when a vote of no-confidence failed by a sizable margin. President Viktor Yanukovych left on an official visit to China, where he is expected to sign an array of economic agreements, his office said. He is expected to be gone until Friday and the prospects for a definitive development in the next few days seem small.

Protest leaders vowed to continue their demonstrations, which have brought as many as 300,000 people to the streets of Kiev, in the largest outpouring of public anger since the 2004 Orange Revolution.

Soon after Tuesday's vote, about 5,000 protesters gathered outside the presidential administration building, then moved to the capital's central Independence Square, where the crowd grew to more than 10,000, according to police estimates.

The opposition called for the parliamentary vote over Yanukovych's shelving of a long-anticipated agreement to deepen political and economic ties with the European Union and the violent tactics used by police to disperse demonstrators protesting the decision.

Yanukovych has sought to quell public anger by moving to renew talks with Brussels. The government appears to recognize that the police violence may have galvanized long-brewing frustrations rather than stifle protests.

But while Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, attending the parliamentary session with his Cabinet, apologized for the violence, he also made a tough vow. "We have extended our hand to you, but if we encounter a fist, I will be frank, we have enough force," he said.

There is a question as to how long protesters' determination will last as winter sets in and the holiday period approaches, noted Adrian Karatnycky, a Ukraine analyst at the Atlantic Council think tank.

In addition to Yanukovych's trip to China, "these things suggest Yanukovych is playing for time," he said. The no-confidence measure got the support of 186 members of the Verkhovna Rada, 40 shy of the majority needed. Even if it had passed, Yanukovych would have remained president, but the prime minister and Cabinet would have been ejected.

In turn, Vitali Klitschko, the super heavyweight world boxing champion and leader of the opposition party Udar, vowed that the action would continue. "We will peacefully blockade the government building and not allow them to work," he told demonstrators at Independence Square after the no-confidence motion failed.

Oleg Tyahnybok, leader of the nationalist Svoboda party, accused Russia of having "an interest in a situation where more and more blood flows in Ukraine. The president should accept our conditions for preventing this scenario — he should resign and call elections for all branches of power."

Russia wants to turn Ukraine toward its orbit and away from the EU. Azarov, like Yanukovych, has said Ukraine wants further integration with the EU, but wants to negotiate better terms and can't bear the burden of the trade losses with Russia it would presumably suffer.

EU leaders have reaffirmed their willingness to sign the association agreement. Ukraine is also deeply dependent on natural gas from Russia, which previously has sharply raised prices for its neighbor.

Russia opposes closer Ukraine-EU relations, hoping to draw Ukraine into a trading bloc of several former Soviet republics. But Karatnycky said the size and vehemence of the protests effective derails Russia's desire, saying joining that bloc "would trigger a further escalation."

In Brussels at a meeting of foreign ministers from NATO member states, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Europe and its allies have "all declined to engage in a rather overt and we think inappropriate bidding war."

Lawmakers in Poland, a country at the forefront of EU attempts to bring Ukraine into the 28-nation bloc's fold, adopted a resolution calling for dialogue between Ukraine's opposition and the government. It also condemned the use of force during protests and expressed solidarity with pro-European Ukrainians.

Associated Press writers Jim Heintz and Yuras Karmanau in Kiev, and Monika Scislowska in Warsaw, Poland, contributed to this report.

Chevron suspends shale gas exploration in Romania

December 07, 2013

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — U.S. oil company Chevron has suspended exploration for shale gas in northeastern Romania after hundreds of anti-fracking protesters tore down fences.

Chevron won approval to drill exploratory wells in the town of Pungesti, but halted work for a second time Saturday after residents blocked access to the site. Hundreds of riot police couldn't prevent residents from demolishing fences and breaking into the site. Dozens were detained and 14 were charged with destruction of property and carrying knives.

Chevron said it had suspended work "as a result of unsafe conditions" and informed police of destruction to its property. Thousands of people have rallied across Romania in recent months to protest against government support for shale gas exploration. Chevron had resumed work at the site on Dec. 2.