Ukraine agreement faces many hurdles

Associated Press

KIEV, Ukraine

Ukraine’s president and opposition leaders signed a wide-ranging agreement Friday aimed at ending a three-month crisis that exploded this week into violence that killed more than 100 people.

The agreement, thrashed out during intense overnight discussions with envoys from the European Union and Russia, addresses an array of issues that have lain at the heart of the dispute between protesters and the government of President Viktor Yanukovych.

But it remains to be seen whether the agreement can stand the test of time.

The agreement envisions early presidential elections, but says they can wait until December. That’s a sore point with many of the demonstrators who have occupied central Kiev; one of their aims was the immediate resignation of Yanukovych. The country’s next presidential election was scheduled to be held in March 2015, so even if Yanukovych is defeated in early elections, he could serve all but three months of his term.

After becoming president in 2010, Yanukovych pushed through a measure to abandon 2004 constitutional changes that reduced the power of the president. The agreement called for parliament to reverse that move, which is seen by many as having questionable legality, and parliament did so hours later. Among the powers the president lost are the right to nominate the prime minister and fire the Cabinet.

The agreement calls for “serious efforts” to get life back to normal, including the withdrawal of protesters from streets and squares. Effectively, that’s an order for the massive encampment in Kiev’s Independence Square to pack up. No deadline for leaving has been set and many protesters are likely to move out slowly because of the solidarity the camp fostered and doubts over whether the agreement will actually be implemented.