Ukraine Opposition Agrees to Parley With President
KIEV, December 13 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian opposition leaders were set to hold talks Friday with President Viktor Yanukovych in a step that could assist in soothing political tensions in the former Soviet state.
Arseny Yatsenyuk, head of the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) faction in parliament, said he and two fellow opposition leaders would use the encounter to lay out their demands to Yanukovych.
Protests in Ukraine, focused in the capital, Kiev, have been raging since the government last month pulled out of preparations to sign landmark political and trade deals with the EU, sparking widespread indignation.
"We want the release of political prisoners. Second, we want the punishment of those responsible for the dispersal of peaceful demonstrations. And finally, we demand early presidential and parliamentary elections," Yatsenyuk said, speaking from a stage on Kiev's Independence Square, which has served as the focal point for protests since last month.
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