Zee Media Bureau/Supriya Jha
Kiev: Despite President Viktor Yanukovyvh offering concessions, Ukrainian protesters seem far from being placated as the even the latest conciliatory move made by the government in the form of amnesty law fell short of their demands.
The amnesty law passed by the Ukrainian Parliament yesterday requires the protesters to vacate the key government compounds occupied by them recently and also to remove the barricades put up by them.
However, the opposition leaders have called the conditions as unacceptable and the protesters haven`t yet vacated any of the administration buildings where they are lodged in, reported the BBC.
"The demands that they have set are unacceptable and nobody is going to fulfil them. We said that the law should come into force without any prior conditions...." an opposition lawmaker was quoted as saying, added the report.
The amnesty law is the latest among few recent conciliatory steps taken by the government to appease the pro-EU protesters.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Parliament also repealed the contentious anti-protest law, only hours after the PM Mykola Azarov – one of the most disliked figures by the opposition - submitted his resignation to the President.
However, despite these steps taken by the Ukraine government, the demands of the opposition remain unfulfilled and it may take more time to see the calm return to the streets of Kiev.
The opposition members also want the President to resign and fresh elections to be held.
The protests that were sparked in Nov last year, had turned violent in recent days, with the death toll reaching five.
EU`s catherine Ashton who arrived in Kiev yesterday called the violence as “shocking”.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to mount the pressure on Ukraine and put on hold the latest instalment of his $15bn bailout package till a new government was formed.
"Let`s wait for the formation of a Ukrainian government," he said on Russian TV.
Assessing the delicacy of the situation in Ukraine, the country`s first post-independence President Leonid Kravchuk, said that the nation was on the "brink of civil war".
"The state is on the brink of civil war.... What is happening is revolution because we are talking about an attempt to bring about a change of power," he said in the Parliament.
Ukraine is under the grip of chaos and unrest since November last year after the President postponed a treaty with the EU, and instead accepted a $15bn bailout package from Russia.
