KIEV,
Ukraine — Standing before a crowd of tens of thousands in Independence
Square, the center of the three-month civic uprising that ousted
President Viktor F. Yanukovych, the lawmakers temporarily controlling
Ukraine announced an interim government on Wednesday night to be led by
Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, a veteran public official.
The
public presentation of Mr. Yatsenyuk, who will serve as acting prime
minister, and more than 20 other proposed cabinet members, was a
frenetic effort by establishment politicians to win the backing of the
street protesters, whose persistence in the face of the deaths of more
than 80 people last week in clashes with the police ultimately forced
Mr. Yanukovych from power.
As
the names of the proposed ministers were read from a stage — with
flowers and candles blanketing the square in memory of the dead — it
became clear just how completely the ordinary people on the street had
seized control of the direction of Ukraine. Desperate for the crowd’s
legitimacy, officials felt compelled to present the slate on stage in
the square before putting it up for a vote by Parliament.
The reaction from the crowd was decidedly mixed.
Jeers
and whistles greeted some established politicians, and cheers for some
figures with no government experience chosen because of their role in
the uprising. But with Ukraine hurtling toward an economic catastrophe,
and no time for protracted negotiations, the gesture of deference to the
crowd seemed sufficient to move the process forward.
“We
need to change these faces,” said Alyona Murashko, a 28-year-old
marketing specialist who was carrying groceries and had stopped in the
square on her way home from work. Ms. Murashko said that she approved of
the choice of Olga Bogomolets, a doctor, singer and activist, as deputy
prime minister for humanitarian affairs, and of Tatyana Chornovil, an
activist and journalist, to lead Ukraine’s anticorruption bureau.
Ms.
Murashko, however, said she opposed Mr. Yatsenyuk and many of the other
choices. “I wouldn’t like to see him even temporarily,” she said. “No
one from current political parties.” Ms. Murashko said she was glad that
presidential elections would be held in May but wanted parliamentary
elections “as soon as possible.”
Among
those eliciting loud boos was Oleksandr V. Turchynov, who was elected
by colleagues on Saturday as the new speaker of Parliament and who has
been authorized to carry out the duties of president, effectively
putting him in charge of the country. Mr. Turchynov was not part of the
slate announced Wednesday night and will continue in his position even
after the interim government is approved.
On
the whole, the makeup of the interim government suggested that Ukraine
would now move more swiftly to improve ties with the West, potentially
reviving the sweeping political and trade agreements with the European
Union that Mr. Yanukovych scuttled in November, setting off protests in
Kiev and other cities.
Mr.
Yatsenyuk is an ally of Mr. Yanukovych’s archrival, the former prime
minister Yulia V. Tymoshenko. Ms. Tymoshenko was released from a prison
hospital and is expected to run for president in the May elections,
although she has received only a lukewarm reception in recent days. Many
Ukrainians say they view her as too closely connected to the country’s
existing political system, which has been hobbled by corruption and
mismanagement for years.
Mr.
Yatsenyuk, by contrast, is largely viewed as an able technician with a
firm grasp of economic policy and foreign affairs. He has served as
speaker of Parliament, foreign minister, economics minister and acting
head of the central bank. Ukraine’s economy is in tatters, and it is in
desperate need of a rescue package from the International Monetary Fund,
which has said it will demand painful austerity measures and
long-delayed economic changes in return for any assistance.
A
$15 billion bailout that Mr. Yanukovych had secured from Russia has
been suspended as a result of the recent political upheaval, which the
Kremlin views with alarm.
Mr.
Yatsenyuk was one of three opposition leaders in Parliament who were
among the chief organizers of the street demonstrations. Another, the
former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, who leads a party called the
Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform, has already announced his
candidacy for president. The third, Oleg Tyagnybok, is the leader of the
nationalist Svoboda party, which is popular in Western Ukraine but has
limited support elsewhere.
Officials
in Parliament, led by Mr. Turchynov, had struggled to reach a deal on
the interim government in part because of the demands by civic activists
that it include a number of people who did not have previous experience
in public life.
Among
the choices in this regard were Dmitro Bulatov, the leader of a group
called AutoMaidan, who was designated as minister of youth and sport;
and Eugene Nyschuk, an actor who has served as M.C. from the stage in
Independence Square throughout the protests and who was selected as
culture minister.
The
crowd, however, was divided even on these choices, underscoring the
near-impossible challenge faced by officials hoping to win the approval
of the street.
Volodymyr
Hrysiv, 36, an unemployed martial arts instructor from Kiev, said he
had been part of the protests from the very beginning and had booed Mr.
Turchynov.
“I
did not see him here last week when bullets were firing,” Mr. Hrysiv
said. “I have not seen him earlier during fights on Hrushevskovo Street.
Some people sacrifice their lives, while others are now dividing
seats.”
Still, many people in the crowd acknowledged that there was no way to please everyone.
Officials said that Andrey Dashchitsa, a veteran Ukrainian diplomat, had been chosen as minister of foreign affairs.
Andrey
Parubiy, a member of Parliament and leader of the protest movement, was
chosen as the head of the national security council, while Arsen
Avakov, who is already working as interior minister, was chosen to
remain in that post.
