Ukrainian Prime Minister Arsenij Yatsenyuk has announced that he will resign next week. Apparently, his decision was driven by the inability of politicians to enact “real changes.”
Petro Poroshenko, the so-called “Chocolate King” and current pro-Western Ukrainian president, asked him to quit in February because they were losing support, but the PM narrowly survived a no-confidence vote.
@Yatsenyuk_AP But #PanamaPapers are about comrade @poroshenko !!! Is he going to resign too, or you just made him a suggestion:)
— Cristian (@Dinesco) April 10, 2016
The Ukrainian government has been accused of corruption and inaction – a problem compounded by the Panama papers (which mainstream journals have called the “WikiLeaks-ization of mainstream journalism,” while in the same breath, devoting most of the coverage to the usual evil Russia and China rhetoric). They revealed that Poroshenko had used a holding company named Prime Asset Partners Limited, to hide most of his assets despite pledging to sell most of them off after taking the reigns from his ousted pro-Russian predecessor.
Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Groysman has been nominated by Poroshenko’s party as the replacement for Yatsenyuk.
While announcing his resignation over Twitter, he called for the quick formation of a new government to prevent “destabilization of [the] executive branch during a war.”
“As of today,” Mr Yatsenyuk said in a Sunday Tweet, “my goals are broader: new electoral law, Constitutional reform, Judicial reform, Ukraine’s membership in the EU and NATO.”
Poroshenko told Ukrainian TV on Sunday that he will not dissolve the current parliament. “I respect the Ukrainian parliament. I want no confrontation with either the parliament or the government. I have no other parliament for you and will have none whatsoever.”
Below is Yatsenyuk’s televised announcement:
In December last year, a brawl erupted, with Yatsenyuk almost being physically removed from Ukraine’s upper house of parliament’s floor podium. 1,000 protestors had been gathered outside parliament building at the time, demanding his resignation, and Rada deputy Oleg Barna, part of a group loyal to Poroshenko, was the one who attempted to carry Yatsenyuk out – possibly for a meet and greet session.
Sources: BBC, NYT, RT, Telegraph
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