Yatsenyuk and Turchynov announced their plan for resolving the crisis
Kyiv, April 18 (Navigator, Victoria Litovchenko) – Acting Ukrainian President Alexander Turchynov and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk voiced their readiness to grant the Russian language official status, and the regions financial and economic autonomy.
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This is stated in a joint statement by state leaders.
“In order to achieve peace and mutual understanding between citizens of Ukraine, the right of regional, city and district councils will be ensured to make decisions regarding granting official status in the territory of the corresponding region, along with the state Ukrainian language, to Russian or other languages spoken by the majority of the local population,” Turchynov said.
In turn, Arseniy Yatsenyuk said: “We are securing the special status of the Russian language and the protection of this language, we are securing the special status of any other language on the territory of the corresponding territorial community.”
In his opinion, this is necessary for mutual understanding to emerge in Ukraine.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk also called on the Verkhovna Rada next week to adopt a government bill on amnesty for protest participants in the eastern regions.
“The Ukrainian government has already submitted to Parliament a bill on amnesty for everyone who surrenders their weapons, leaves the premises and begins to build a sovereign and independent Ukraine together with the Ukrainian people. It’s a shame that this law was not voted on, although it could have been voted on if it had been the will of our political opponents. But we call on all parties to urgently stabilize the situation and vote on this bill in Parliament next week,” Yatsenyuk said.
The prime minister also promised to launch a full-scale constitutional reform in the country and provide the regions with economic and financial autonomy.
“The Ukrainian government is ready to carry out a comprehensive constitutional reform that will consolidate the powers of the regions, in accordance with which regional and district state administrations will be eliminated,” Yatsenyuk said.
He noted that in order for territorial communities to have appropriate resources, the government is ready to change the Budget and Tax Codes.
According to Turchynov, the state leadership “will make every effort to immediately consider the relevant changes to the Constitution of Ukraine and carry out reform of local self-government and the organization of power in the regions in Ukraine.”
Let us remind you that on Thursday, April 17, the Verkhovna Rada was supposed to appeal to Ukrainians about maintaining peace and unity in the state. However, the government and the opposition did not agree to sign a memorandum on the situation in the East of Ukraine. The Party of Regions and the Communist Party of Ukraine did not support the provisions of the memorandum. Therefore, the appeal was made by the acting president and prime minister.
Yatsenyuk and Turchynov announced their plan to resolve the crisis.