Presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko believes that a compromise with protestors in Eastern Ukraine is possible. She described her position on the program Shuster Live, after meeting with separatists in Donetsk, reports Expreso.TV, April 18.
Tymoshenko announced that although an agreement was reached yesterday in Geneva for Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine and “leave it alone,” unfortunately nothing is happening today and Russian special services troops are not being withdrawn.
However, she said she was able to speak with two groups of protestors from Donetsk.
For at least the past 15 years, politicians simply did not listen to their citizens,” she explained. “Politicians simply ignored what has been accumulating in the hearts and souls of Ukrainians in the East, as well as in the West of Ukraine. I can firmly say that the lack of dialogue every day deepens the crisis that people are experiencing in the East,” she said.
According to Tymoshenko, the first complaint of people from Eastern Ukraine is that “so much time has been wasted.”
” It’s a complaint that for an entire month of politics in Kyiv, the government has not initiated negotiations with individuals in the regional administration of the Donetsk Oblast. After the talks, I can firmly say that compromise is possible. The extended negotiations simply indicate that dialogue was nonexistent at the highest level with the people who are now expressing their dissatisfaction. And Russia, for its part, is taking advantage,” she said.
She added that economic, social, cultural, and language issues were discussed during the negotiations, as well as ways to give local authorities more rights.
“The second conclusion is that it’s impossible to reach an agreement only on a geopolitical level without conducting very honest, open, and deep discussion with Ukrainians living both in the East and the West. People are no longer willing to be outside the decision making process, on any decisions. This is why we agreed to meet literally in about a day, in the evening, to continue our dialogue until we reach a point where we can see a solution that suits everyone,” she said.
Tymoshenko explained that she proposed holding the roundtable discussions in Donetsk right after the holidays, where all of Ukraine would be represented and especially the people now blocking the administration buildings in Eastern Ukraine.
Source: http://espreso.tv/news/2014/04/18/tymoshenko_khoche_kompromisnyy_kruhlyy_stil_u_donecku
