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| Europe |
| Ukraine's Yanukovich goes on sick leave in midst of political crisis |
| 2014-01-31 |
| [Egypt Independent] Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich went on sick leave on Thursday with an acute respiratory ailment, leaving a political vacuum in a country destabilized by anti-government protests. Yanukovich's prime minister, Mykola Azarov, resigned on Tuesday after a sharp escalation of two months of street unrest prompted by Yanukovich's rejection of a European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... deal in favor of closer ties and a bailout deal with Russia. The president, increasingly isolated at home and under pressure from Moscow not to tilt policy back towards the West, has yet to appoint a successor. Serhiy Arbuzov, who was Azarov's first deputy and is a close family friend of Yanukovich, has stepped in as interim prime minister. "The president of Ukraine has been officially registered as sick with an acute respiratory ailment and a high temperature," at statement on the presidential website said. The bare announcement, which gave no indication of when he might be back at his desk, left open the possibility that he could still work on documents even though he was on sick leave. "Today is the first day of the illness. He has a high temperature. We are not doctors, but it is clear that a high temperature does not go down in a single day," a presidential front man said by telephone. "The doctors will do all they can so that he can recover quickly." Some opposition figures said they suspected Yanukovich might be simply giving himself a breathing space after being forced into concessions to try to calm the unrest on the streets. "This smacks of a 'diplomatic illness'," Rostislav Pavlenko, a member of boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko's Udar (Punch) party, told Rooters. "It allows Yanukovich not to sign laws, not to meet the opposition, absent himself from decisions to solve the political crisis." A close ally of Yanukovich, who was last seen in parliament on Wednesday night, rejected that interpretation. The president had hurried to the legislature to herd supporters into voting for a partial amnesty for detained protesters aimed at tempting activists to stop occupying government buildings in Kiev and elsewhere. Mykhailo Chechetov, from Yanukovich's Party of Regions, said the president had told supporters in parliament that he had come to the session directly from hospital. "He looked ill," Chechetov said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 ...Beware of Revolutionaries – Better Yet, Beware of Everyone <LINK> |
| Posted by: Uncle Phester 2014-01-31 13:26 |
| #3 Kirchner's Disease? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2014-01-31 11:54 |
| #2 I wonder how much of the violence in the Ukraine is promoted by the EUSSR? |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2014-01-31 09:29 |
| #1 The president, increasingly isolated at home and under pressure from Moscow not to tilt policy back towards the West Time to hit the links, or shoot some hoops. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-01-31 04:06 |