Yushchenko urging international community to help save democracy in Ukraine

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is calling on the international community to help Ukraine preserve democracy. He made this call during his meeting with ambassadors of the G7, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the European Commission on Friday.

Yushchenko noted that he had invited the ambassadors to present to them his vision of political situation in Ukraine.

"All masks have actually been thrown off over the past week," he said, having informed about the talks on creation of a coalition between the Party of Regions and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. The main objective of this coalition is amendment of the Constitution next week, the President stated.

In his words, those amendments provide for reserving for Yulia Tymoshenko the prime minister's post for the coming ten years. The amendments also provide for the unlawful norm of electing the president at Verkhovna Rada. Yushchenko emphasized that in this case the point at issue is restriction of democratic rights and freedoms of citizens, this time the suffrage, which cannot be done without a nation-wide referendum.

Yushchenko also called as illegal the initiatives on prolongation of authorities of the Verkhovna Rada and local bodies of power. "All these initiatives are lawless, and in fact imply a constitutional upheaval. This is a breakup of all democratic achievements Ukraine reached over the past few years," he stressed.

"As the President of Ukraine, I guarantee that I will not allow unlawful election of the president in parliament, and will do my best for Ukraine to comply with all of its international commitments on observance of rights and freedoms of citizens," Yushchenko said adding that his effort may appear to be insufficient, and thus he addresses the international community for assistance in the maintenance of democratic development in Ukraine.

UKRINFORM