KIEV, Ukraine - Mykola Azarov, the prime minister of Ukraine, resigned Tuesday, hours before a planned vote of no confidence by the parliament that could have stripped him of his powers.
Azarov resigned shortly after the pro-government Party of Regions joined with opposition lawmakers on Tuesday to repeal most of the laws in a package of legislation restricting freedom of speech and assembly that was enacted last week.
In a statement posted on his website, President Viktor Yanukovych said he had accepted Azarov’s resignation and had signed a decree dismissing the rest of the Cabinet of ministers as well. But he said Azarov and the ministers would stay on until a new Cabinet is approved by the parliament.
“All of the current members of the Cabinet of ministers of Ukraine continue to work in their posts and exercise the powers entrusted to them,” he said.
Yanukovych has promised other concessions as well, including an amnesty for arrested protesters and a revision of the constitution to weaken presidential powers. Lawmakers were expected to take up those matters later Tuesday.
Azarov had been a staunch ally of Yanukovych through the two months of protests roiling Ukraine. But neither his resignation nor the repeal of the restrictive legislation, which the opposition calls the “dictatorship laws,” were seen as likely to appease the protesters.
In Independence Square, the central plaza that has been occupied since November by demonstrators, with tents, field kitchens and a stage, reactions to Tuesday’s developments were mixed.
One elderly woman in a kerchief giddily told the Ukrainian Channel 5 television network after Azarov’s resignation, “Thank God you heard us !”
But a young man wearing a metal helmet told the television station, “It’s not a victory yet.”
In a letter posted on the government website, Azarov wrote that he was resigning “for the sake of a peaceful resolution” to the civil unrest, which escalated sharply last week with the deaths of five protesters.
Azarov wrote in his letter: “The state of conflict in the nation threatens the social and economic development of Ukraine, and presents a threat to all Ukrainian society, and all its citizens. In order to create additional opportunities for social and political compromise for the sake of peaceful resolution of the conflict, I made a personal decision to ask the president of Ukraine to accept my resignation.”
Yanukovych had previously signaled that he would be willing to dismiss Azarov. Over the weekend, the president offered the prime ministership to the parliamentary leader of the opposition Fatherland Party, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who declined the offer.
In the ranks of the radical opposition, empowered now by its survival as an organized movement after a week of fierce street fighting with the police and security services in which scores of people were wounded and arrested, few believed that Azarov’s resignation was voluntary.
Oleg Tyagnibok, the leader of the nationalist Svoboda party, said Azarov had been forced out in a maneuver to avoid the no-confidence vote in the parliament. “It’s clear they are looking for ways to avoid responsibility,” he said.
In the morning session of the parliament, which began with a moment of silence for those who died last week, lawmakers repealed nine of the 12 restrictive laws that had been passed Jan. 16 by a show of hands, without debate. Anger at the limits the laws imposed on free speech and assembly in the country sparked the violence Jan. 19.
The repeal vote Tuesday was conducted more formally, with 361 votes recorded in favor of repeal in the 450-seat chamber, including the Party of Regions, Yanukovych’s party.
The laws had specifically banned tactics adopted by the opposition in the protests. For example, a provision banning the driving of cars in a column of more than five was aimed at a group called AutoMaidan that had taken to protesting by driving through the capital in large, honking caravans.
In a compromise, members of the parliament, including those from opposition parties, also voted to approve more limited versions of some of the repealed restrictions.
For example, a provision to make destroying monuments a criminal offense was reinstated, but with the specification that it covers only monuments to fighters against fascism, like the World War II statues that are ubiquitous in Ukraine.
It no longer applies to statues of the former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, like the one toppled by protesters in Kiev in December. The Svoboda party has called for dismantling all of Ukraine’s Lenins.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 01/29/2014