Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Photographer: Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images
Feb. 21, 2014 (Bloomberg) -- Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych said he’s initiating snap presidential elections and called for a national unity government to help halt the country’s deadly three-month political crisis.
Yanukovych, commenting on his website, also urged a return to the 2004 constitution, a move that would shift powers to parliament from the office of president. He didn’t give any timing on the vote or governance change, which his opponents reiterated today should both happen as soon as possible.
“We see a cautious chance, maybe a last chance, to get into a political process that might point the way out of the deep crisis in Ukraine,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief spokesman Steffen Seibert said today in Berlin.
After the worst violence since the start of the unrest killed at least 77 protesters and police this week, European Union governments imposed sanctions on some Ukrainian officials and sent envoys to negotiate a peace deal. Ukrainian bonds rebounded as investors anticipated a resolution to the crisis, which began when Yanukovych rejected an EU integration pact.
Yanukovych said earlier today that he’d agreed to an EU-brokered peace plan. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told Europe 1 radio it’s premature to say an agreement has been reached, even as calm returned to the streets of the capital. The opposition said it would consult the protesters who’ve been camped out for weeks on Independence Square on the offer.
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