Ukraine on Fire Page #3

made ukraine vulnerable to outside forces

and soon people were to know the new kind of war

one had never known before - the color revolutions

reporter:
the protesters are confronting the police

while the result of the elections are being questioned

and they are calling for a new vote

narrator:
for 24 years of its independence

ukraine got through 2 revolutions

in 2004 people came on the streets of kiev

and started the orange revolution

at that time ukraine once again became the battlefield of two forces

russia and western countries

the confrontation reached its peak during the presidential election of 2004

two major candidates

western-backed viktor ushenko

and russia-oriented viktor yanukovich

almost equally shared the votes of the ukrainian people

by the way - calling viktor ushenko western-backed

was not an exaggeration

his wife k viktor ushenko

is a former us state department official

and worked in the white house during reagan's administration

the votes were split in a geographic principle

traditionally pro-russia eastern ukraine

voted for viktor yanukovich

while western ukraine voted for viktor ushenko

by the announced results

viktor ushenko lost to viktor yanukovich

but thousands of people didn't agree with that

and came to the central square of kiev

on november 22nd of 2004

the situation got wide press coverage

reporter:
the government election commission

ignored the fraud accusations and declared viktor yanukovich president

narrator:
the international politicians

such as former secretary of nato javier solana

became frequent guests in kiev

initiating negotiations between the parties

javier solana:
i'm hoping that together

we can overcome these difficulties

narrator:
the results of the negotiations

were often reached only on paper

for example viktor ushenko never told his supporters

to stop blocking the government institutions in the center of kiev

therefore these non-violent protests lasted for a month

during which the result of the previous election were canceled

and new elections were announced

the important nuance

just 3 months before

viktor ushenko suffered a mysterious

still unsolved poisoning

but it didn't prevent him

from winning the new election

but as we shall soon see

there was much more than just

the people's will to this victory

this peaceful revolution and its leaders

were warmly welcomed by the international community

but the euphoria didn't last long

viktor ushenko's government failed the reforms

and lost its chance to establish democracy

instead of setting into internal fighting

viktor ushenko was not reelected for a second term

but in the end of his presidency

he had time to give one last gift

to his supporters from western ukraine

ushenko:
in conclusion i would like to say

something that is long awaited

by the ukrainian patriots for many years

i have signed a decree

for the unbroken spirit

and standing for the idea

of fighting for independent ukraine

i declare stepan bandera

a national hero of ukraine

hail to ukraine

narrator:
the hero status of stepan bandera was short-lived

in 2010 viktor yanukovich was elected president

and this time the international community

had no doubts about the legitimacy of the elections

in january 2011 viktor yanukovich repealed the hero title of bandera

and after almost 4 years of his presidency

another revolution shook ukraine

unfortunately this one was anything but peaceful

oliver stone:
mr yanukovich, i am an american

i'm an outsider in this situation and it's very complicated

but i would like, as a filmmaker

to just jump into the action

and go to those moments in november 2013

you're president of ukraine, been president for 3 years

at this point the country is in a bad economic shape

you have a trade agreement with russia and now

you're seeking making a better agreement with eu and you're negotiating

can you tell me at that moment what you were thinking?

yanukovich:
this was truly a very complicated period for ukraine

and wee needed to find a solution for the problems of 2013

so we had 2 partners first of all

we were relying on the international monetary found

but the IMF for a year of negotiations was proposing us options that were unacceptable

a significant rise of energy resources prices for the people, natural gas first of all

that meant a significant rise of the people's expenses

while their income would stay at the same level

we wouldn't agree with that

we proposed another option and we officially got rejected by the imf in november of 2013

the other option was russia

russia said - we're ready to work with you as partners

if you take our interests in consideration

putin:
because the economy of russia and ukraine

were established as one

absolutely unique economical relations were born

the russian market was completely open for ukrainian

products and our customs border with ukraine is completely open

in that way the eu would enter our market with its products without any negotiations

yanukovich:
and so when we began calculating the balances

we saw the agreement prepared by the eu for ukraine

requires a lot of economic efforts and losses

and the eu wouldn't compensate any of it

and the russian market would drastically reduce

putin:
we said of course, if ukraine decided to do that

than it's their decision and we respect it

but we mustn't be the ones to pay for it

yanukovich:
our negotiations with the eu

didn't succeed and that's why

we proposed to make a break

reporter:
violent clashes are happening in kiev

where about 100 thousand people came on the streets

to protest against the government's decision

to delay the signing of the association agreement with eu

oliver stone:
vitaliy, you were the minister of inner affairs

of ukraine in that period

so basically you were the head of ukraine's police

so tell me your vision on the protests happened in november through february

vitaliy zaharchenko: we had the information

that these mass protests were being planned anyway

and they were to start in 2015

but the opposition used the fact

that the government decided to delay

the signing of the association agreement with eu

narrator:
arseniy yatsenuk

the leader of the opposition block the fatherland

oleg tyagnibok, the leader of the oppositional

far right radical party c

vitaliy klitchko, the leader of the opposition party udar

reporter:
on thursday

leaders of the eu and ukraine stated

that the negotiation on the association agreement

can be resumed after the 2 day consulting

but now the association agreement is of the table

angela merkel:
we expected more from you

yanukovich:
i want you to hear me

3 and a half years i've been working on this question 1 on 1 with strong russia

reporter:
pro-eu protests on the streets of kiev enter the 2nd day

the protesters are now joined by the leader of the opposition

ukranian world boxing champion vitaliy klitchko

he called the protesters to maintain pressure on the government

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