Russia May Reconsider Ukraine Bailout if Government Removed
Russian Bailout in Doubt After Ukraine PM Offers Resignation to Calm Protests
MOSCOW—Russia may reconsider its $15 billion bailout offer to Ukraine if the current government is removed, a senior official said Tuesday, hours after Ukraine's prime minister offered his resignation in an effort to calm a growing protest movement.
"There is no decision yet, but it is self-evident," that further distributions of the loan would be reviewed if the government of Mykola Azarov was to be dissolved, the official said speaking on condition of anonymity.
The pact, one of the most generous ever to be offered by Russia to another country, came just weeks after Kiev turned its back on a trade deal with the European Union that Moscow had strongly opposed in a Cold War-tinged struggle to keep the former Soviet republic in Russia's orbit.
The president's decision sent thousands of protesters into the streets of Kiev, which was followed by a government crackdown, but since then antigovernment protests have intensified and spread across different parts of the country.
Earlier Tuesday, Ukraine's parliament sought to placate angry protesters by voting to abolish a raft of anti-dissent legislation passed earlier this month. However, the moves are unlikely to satisfy opposition leaders who are demanding snap presidential elections and for now appear to have the government on the defensive.
Opposition leaders have so far called the president's concessions "too little too late," and appear to be in no mood to compromise with him as protesters have seized government buildings in the west and center of the country.