MOSCOW, January 28 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on Monday agreed to scrap anti-protest laws that sparked violent clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters.
Following a meeting between Yanukovych and key opposition leaders, Ukrainian Justice Minister Olena Lukash said “a political decision” has been made to abolish some of the laws that were passed on January 16 and set off a surge of violence that has left at least two protesters dead.
The legislation likely to be abolished Tuesday during a parliamentary session in what could be a major concession to the opposition, which has also insisted that the government call early elections.
Lukash made no mention of that demand in her statement posted on the Ukrainian president’s website, but she said the government has also agreed on an amnesty for protesters, but only if they clear street barricades and seized government buildings.
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said earlier Monday that anti-government demonstrators left the Justice Ministry building in Kiev that they stormed and occupied Sunday night.
Lukash had warned that a state of emergency could be declared if the building was not vacated promptly.
US Vice President Joseph Biden called Yanukovych on Monday to express his support for the negotiations the Ukrainian president held with the opposition leaders, the White House said in a statement.
The meeting included UDAR party head Vitali Klitschko, the head of the Batkivshchyna party’s parliamentary faction Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and the leader of the nationalist Svoboda party, Oleg Tyagnibok.
Yanukovych over the weekend offered the prime minister position to Yatsenyuk, but Lukash said in her statement Monday that the pro-Western politician had rejected the invitation.
The protests began in November following Yanukovych’s decision to delay an association agreement with the EU in favor of closer ties with Russia.
The unrest has seen violent clashes with police in which numerous protesters have been filmed hurling Molotov cocktails, stones and other projectiles at officers, including through use of a large catapult. Police have responded with tear gas, smoke bombs and beatings with truncheons.
Ukrainian authorities have confirmed that two people have been killed in the clashes, while some reports have put the death toll at five. No police fatalities have been reported.
