KYIV. April 11 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Arseniy Yatseniuk said he had decided to resign from the post of Ukrainian prime minister.
“I’ve decided to step down from the post of Ukrainian prime minister,” he said in the 10 minutes with prime minister program broadcast by Ukrainian television stations on Sunday.
Yatseniuk said that his statement of resignation would be tabled in parliament on Tuesday, April 12.
The politician said that his decision had been caused by several reasons.
“The political crisis in the state is stirred up artificially. The wish to replace one person has blinded the politicians and has paralyzed their will to real changes. The process of replacing the government turned into an unreasonable running in place. The authors of the crisis turned into hostages of circumstances and made us all – the government, society and the state – hostages,” Yatseniuk said.
He also said that the destabilization of the executive authorities should be prevented during the war. This prospect is inevitable if after the resignation a new Ukrainian government is not immediately elected.
“The settlement of the situation has finally become attainable. The coalition majority is reviving in the parliament. The new agreement is based on the goals and principles of the program by our Cabinet of ministers,”
Yatseniuk said.
He recalled that the Petro Poroshenko Bloc parliamentary faction has nominated incumbent Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Groysman for the post of prime minister.
“Having done everything for the stability and continuation of the course, I say I decided to transfer the duties and responsibility of the head of Ukrainian government,” Yatseniuk said.
Additionally, he said that despite the decision to resign from the post of prime minister the People’s Front political party faction in Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada remained in the coalition.
The politician said that from now on he sees “his tasks broader than the powers of the head of government.”
Among the issues, which he plans to work on, are the control over the activities and performance of the parliamentary coalition, international support to Ukraine and other fields.
“From now on, I see my tasks broader than the powers of the head of government. A new election legislation. A constitutional reform. A legal reform. The coalition control over the course of a new government.
International support to Ukraine. Ukraine’s membership in the European Union and NATO. This makes part of my program,” Yatseniuk said.
