Ukraine: Deal or no deal? (Update – agreement signed)

Ukraine: Deal or no deal? (Update – agreement signed)

There are conflicting reports about an agreement reached between the government and opposition.

Reuters reports as of 7:51 8:23 Eastern, Yanukovich announces early Ukraine poll but no deal yet with opposition:

Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovich announced plans for early elections on Friday in a series of concessions to his pro-European opponents, but it was unclear whether they would accept an EU-mediated deal to end violence that has left dozens dead….

Yanukovich said Ukraine, which emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991, would revert to a previous constitution under which the president had less authority.

“I am also starting the process of a return to the 2004 constitution with a rebalancing of powers towards a parliamentary republic,” he said. “I call for the start of procedures for forming a government of national unity.”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose foreign minister is part of a European Union team trying to broker a compromise, said he could not be certain that the “worst-case scenario” could be avoided. “The threats are still there,” he told a news conference in Warsaw.

The EU mediators said the opposition was seeking last minute changes, but they still expected a deal to be signed on Friday. There were fist fights in parliament as the political tension mounted.

We will update as more in known.

Update: Accord Is Signed in Ukraine but Doubts Are Strong:

The embattled president of Ukraine and leaders of the opposition signed a political deal on Friday aimed at ending a spiral of lethal violence with early elections and a reduction in presidential powers, but Russia declined to endorse the accord, and many protesters said nothing short of the president’s resignation would get them off the street….

The deal reached Friday instead leaves Mr.Yanukovych in power until for at least the end of the year. It calls for early presidential elections in December, a swift return to a constitution of 2004 that sharply limited the president’s powers and the establishment within 10 days of a “government of national trust.”

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Ukraine's parliament votes in favor of an unconditional amnesty for all people detained in current unrest #breaking

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