乌克兰总理强调不会管制游行活动
Ukraine has no plans to impose a state of emergency despite the unrest rocking the country, Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara told reporters Monday.
"Today we are not considering the introduction of a state of emergency. Today, this measure is not on the table," the minister told foreign reporters, adding that he hoped parliament would adopt key legislation to ease the ongoing crisis on Tuesday.
Kozhara's remarks came after Justice Minister Olena Lukash's warning about imposing a state of emergency after radicals seized the justice ministry in Kiev.
The storming of the ministry threatened to derail talks between the opposition and President Viktor Yanukovych to find a peaceful outcome to the standoff.
The Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday was due to meet to discuss concessions proposed by Yanukovych to end the crisis, in a highly anticipated extraordinary session that could be a make-or-break moment to resolve the standoff.
With concern growing in the West that the situation in Ukraine is spiraling out of control, the crisis was also set to dominate an EU-Russia summit on Tuesday.
Tensions remained high in Kiev as several dozen radical protesters from a group named Spilna Sprava (The Right Deed) seized control of the justice ministry late Sunday, smashing windows and erecting new barricades outside.
Lukash, who is taking part in the negotiations, said she would ask for the talks to be broken off if the building was not freed.
Lukash told Ukraine's Inter television channel if the protesters do not vacate the building, she would approach Ukraine's national security council with "a demand to discuss imposing a state of emergency in this country."
The Interfax-Ukraine news agency said opposition leader and former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, who is involved in the negotiations with the president, had visited the scene overnight and asked the protesters to leave, but to no avail.
Yanukovych on Saturday offered the opposition posts in government including that of the prime minister, but his opponents said the offer fell short of their needs.
