Putin Says Russia had to Help 'Brotherly' Ukraine
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said Russia had offered Ukraine a multi-billion dollar bailout package to steer the neighboring "brotherly country" out of economic trouble and not to stem pro-EU protests.
Russia's economic assistance has infuriated the Ukrainian opposition spearheading mass street protests against President Viktor Yanukovych, whom they have accused of selling out to Moscow.
But using highly emotional language to describe Russia's relationship with the ex-Soviet state, Putin insisted that the generous gesture was only aimed at helping a fellow Slav country.
"Why did we take this decision? We often use the term 'brotherly nation', 'brotherly people'. And today we see that Ukraine is in a difficult situation, economically, socially and politically," Putin said at his annual press conference.
"If we really say that this is a brotherly people and a brotherly country then we must act like close relatives and help the Ukrainian people in this difficult situation."
Putin denied the assistance package had anything to do with the massive protests in Kiev or the Ukrainian government's aborted move late last month to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union.
Protesters are still occupying Independence Square in Kiev, known locally as the Maidan, in a bid to persuade the government to sign the EU trade and partnership pact, which would mark a major break with the Kremlin.
"It is not linked to the Maidan or the negotiations with Ukraine and the European Union," Putin said.
"There is no need to think anything up. No one is trying to strangle anyone," he added. "We are not trying to drag Ukraine anywhere."
During talks with Yanukovych on Tuesday Putin agreed to buy $15 billion (11 billion euros) of Ukraine's debt in eurobonds and slash its gas bill by a third, a move economists said would stave off the risk of a Ukrainian default for now.
He described the new gas agreement as "temporary" and said a long-term solution needed to be found that would allow Ukraine to keep the new lower price.
It has remained unclear what Russia is getting in return for the scheme and Putin has made clear he and Yanukovych did not discuss Kiev joining the Kremlin-led Customs Union of ex-Soviet states including Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Putin's traditionally marathon annual press conference was due to coincide later Thursday with a televised interview by Yanukovych with the main Ukraine television stations where he was expected to comment on the deal.
'We cannot wait until 2015'
The protests are the biggest to hit Ukraine since the 2004 Orange Revolution, a popular uprising which forced the annulment of fraudulent elections initially claimed by Yanukovych.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said a day earlier that Kiev had avoided bankruptcy and social collapse thanks to the "historic" bailout from Russia.
But the deal left the opposition fuming and European diplomats complaining it was nothing more than a temporary stop-gap to plug a hole in the Ukrainian economy.
European Union chair Lithuania warned that Ukraine had only delayed a looming crisis. "If money is given to plug a hole, it only postpones the crisis," Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told Agence France Presse.
Opposition leader and world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko accused Yanukovych of "pawning" Ukraine to Russia by giving Moscow key Ukrainian assets as collateral. This has not been confirmed.
The government Thursday wants to bring the budget for 2014 before parliament but the opposition has vowed to physically block the session to prevent it being passed.
"We have clearly told the speaker that until the state crisis is resolved it is impossible to solve any questions in parliament. It is absolutely unacceptable to pass the budget on Thursday," said nationalist leader Oleg Tyagnybok.
Jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, an icon of the Orange Revolution, said the only solution to the crisis could be "the removal of Yanukovych constitutionally on the basis of the will of the people."
She said on Wednesday the ousting of Yanukovych could not wait until the next presidential elections, due in early 2015. "If we delay this until 2015, we are going to lose Ukraine," she said in a statement from detention read by her lawyer.
Source: Agence France Presse
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