Yanukovich goes on sick leave to avoid decision-making – Ukrainian media
Viktor Yanukovich has seen better days.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich went on sick leave from Jan. 30, according to the president’s press service.
“The President is on sick leave due to an acute respiratory condition accompanied by fever,” Aleksandr Orda, the head of the State Administration on medical affairs, commented.
Controversial assumptions concerning a “very suspicious” abrupt sick leave of Yanukovich started to appear in the local media shortly after Jan. 28, when Parliament announced a law on the repeal of certain “dictatorial” laws passed on Jan. 16. The bill needs to be approved by the president.
The laws were antidemocratic and breach people’s fundamental freedoms, according to Jennifer Psaki, a U.S. State Department spokesperson.
“It appears that Yanukovich is not in a hurry to endorse the bill, however, he has 15 days for the document’s legal evaluation,” Minister of Justice Elena Lukash commented.
Opposition leaders also are not showing sympathy for the president.
“Yanukovich can use the sick leave as an excuse not to sign the cancellation of the dictatorship laws, to not meet representatives of the opposition and the international community, and to avoid approving urgent decisions,” the UDAR party leader, Vitaliy Klitschko, wrote on his website.
The Ukrainian government is experiencing a difficult time. The Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov resigned together with his whole cabinet on Jan. 28.
Ukrainian National Bank chief, Sergey Arbuzov, was appointed as interim prime minister.
Arbuzov is regarded as a close friend of the Yanukovich family, according to German international broadcaster Deutche Welle.
Meanwhile, thousands of demonstrators are still braving the cold in the center of Kiev in hope of governmental and eventually constitutional changes.
Photo courtesy of the European Parliament.
