February 16, 2018

February 22, 2014

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Four years ago on February 22, 2014, Ukraine’s Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, resumed work following the deadly Euro-Maidan Revolution of Dignity that resulted in the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych on February 21.

Nominees were already being approved on February 22, and the interim government served until the next government could be formed following the May 25 presidential elections.

Parliament approved on February 22 a resolution dismissing Mr. Yanukovych on the grounds that he removed himself unconstitutionally from fulfilling his constitutional authority, which threatens the state’s governability, territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as violated the rights and freedoms of its citizens.

The bulk of the appointments for the interim government were made on February 27, with Arseniy Yatsenyuk elected as prime minister.

Mr. Yatsenyuk stated: “We stand before inconceivable economic challenges, and in order to conquer them I declare from this high tribune: we don’t have any other way out besides making extremely unpopular decisions,” he said. “The decisions will apply to [state] subsidies, these decisions will apply to [utility] rates, these decisions will apply to cuts in social programs, and these decisions will apply to preserving the country’s financial system.”

Ten of the government posts were held by Batkivshchyna party members, and Parliament formed a new majority coalition called the European Choice Coalition, consisting of Batkivshchyna, Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR) and Svoboda factions, as well as the Economic and Sovereign European Ukraine groups of independent deputies and a handful of Party of Regions defectors.

Ukraine’s currency, the hryvnia, had devalued 25 percent since January 2014, and the government needed to get to work on resolving financial issues in the face of Russian activity in Crimea. Ukraine also desperately needed to secure loans from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and other sources.

On February 27, Mr. Yanukovych was reported to be in Russia, where he was offered sanctuary. He gave a press conference on February 28 from Rostov-on-Don, during which he claimed he continued to be the lawful president of Ukraine.

Source: “Interim government to be led by Yatsenyuk,” by Zenon Zawada, The Ukrainian Weekly, March 2, 2014.

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