Ukraine opposition plans mass protest for Sunday

Ukraine's political opposition, preparing for what it hopes will be a gigantic protest rally on Sunday, said it will negotiate with President Viktor Yanukovich only if he fires the government and appoints a new one committed to deepening the country’s integration with Europe.  

About 20,000 demonstrators crowded into Kiev's Independence Square on a windy, snowy Saturday night, and organizers of the protests – which are now in their third week – are calling for a massive turnout Sunday.

The protests started after Yanukovich backed away from signing an association agreement with the European Union that would have deepened economic ties and diminished the influence of neighboring Russia.

An estimated 300,000 or more showed up for a similar rally a week ago.

That turnout reflected widespread outrage over police violence against demonstrators in the previous two days, and there are no signs the anger has dissipated.

Protesters at the square have set up a tent camp that includes field kitchens, and demonstrators are occupying two nearby buildings, one of them functioning as an improvised opposition headquarters and media center.

Pro-Europe protesters accused Yanukovich on Saturday of planning to seal a customs union with former Soviet master Moscow this month, a move that would likely stoke further turmoil in Kiev.

One opposition leader said returning to Moscow's economic fold could even endanger the unity of Ukraine, a sprawling country of 46 million that borders four EU member states and is the main transit route for Russian gas to Europe.

The Moscow and Kiev governments have both denied that Yanukovich and Russia's President Vladimir Putin discussed the customs union in unannounced talks Friday in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.

At Independence Square, protesters were digging in with tents and supplies of food and clothing.

Men in construction helmets controlled passage in and out of the square through barricades of plywood, park benches and the branches of a large artificial Christmas tree.

The scene recalls the Orange Revolution in late 2004, when Ukrainians camped out through winter months to overturn a fraudulent presidential election won by Yanukovich.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk, head of the largest opposition faction in parliament, told reporters Saturday that Yanukovich must dismiss the government, and said that "we are ready to start the dialogue only if the president makes the first step."

Opposition lawmakers tried on Tuesday to fire the government in a no-confidence vote in parliament, but fell well short of the needed majority.

The opposition has said the government must be replaced by one "that clearly sets the target to sign an association agreement and resume negotiations with the IMF" (International Monetary Fund).

The opposition sees aid from the IMF as key to helping Ukraine through economic troubles that have made Yanukovich lean toward Russia.

Russia wants Ukraine to join a customs union that also includes Belarus and Kazakhstan, a grouping that would be a counterweight to the EU and put pressure on Yanukovich to shelve the EU agreement.

Yatsenyuk called the customs union "a new version of the Soviet Union."

Distress over the customs union was high after Yanukovich and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on Friday.

The leaders' offices on Saturday said the presidents did not discuss the customs union, but suspicions persisted.

"It was a big auction — who is to buy Ukraine," Yatsenyuk said.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that the presidents paid special attention to "cooperation in the energy sphere."

Ukraine's dependence on Russian natural gas gives Moscow considerable leverage, and economically struggling Ukraine has sought to negotiate lower prices.

Faced with $17 billion in gas bills and debt repayments next year, Ukraine is seeking to cut the price of gas it imports from Russia – and possibly billions of dollars in credits to stave off a looming balance of payments crisis.

Former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who was propelled to power by mass protests in 2003 that prefigured Ukraine's Orange Revolution of 2004, met on Saturday with Ukrainian opposition leader Viltali Klitschko and addressed the protesters, wearing a scarf in the colors of Ukraine's blue-and-yellow flag.

"What we are seeing in Kiev is a raider attack on Ukraine by Vladimir Putin, an impudent and unprecedented attempt to steal the country and its future," Saakashvili said.

"Putin's Russia says: 'We can turn your life into hell, we can hit you hard.' This is the logic of a bandit, a racketeer."

Alexei Pushkov, the Kremlin-connected head of Russian parliament's lower house, quickly responded on Twitter in blunt language that reflected the high level of Russia-EU tensions: "It's a raider attack, but by Brussels, not Moscow. They take you to paradise by the throat."

Al Jazeera and wire services