On 22/2/2013 it was reported that:
"The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, has passed the statement on the implementation of Ukraine's aspirations for European integration and the signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
A total of 315 of the 349 MPs registered in the sitting hall supported the document on Friday.
The draft document reads that the Verkhovna Rada “within its powers, will ensure that the recommendations concerning the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, which are stipulated in the resolutions of the European Parliament and the conclusions of the Council of the EU approved on December 10, 2012, at a meeting of the EU foreign ministers, will be fulfilled.”
The draft document also reads that while expecting positive results from the EU-Ukraine Summit due on February 25 and the Eastern Partnership Summit due on November 28-29, 2013, the Ukrainian parliament will assist in completing the fulfillment of the tasks agreed upon with the EU, first of all, within the EU-Ukraine Association Agenda and the EU-Ukraine Visa Liberalization Action Plan (VLAP), and will ensure that amendments to the EU-Ukraine Visa Facilitation Agreement are ratified.
The Ukrainian parliament also promised to intensify its work on the adoption of laws aimed at streamlining Ukrainian legislation with the EU’s laws, particularly those envisaged by the relevant national program for the harmonization of the Ukrainian legislation with the EU legislation, as well as those related to reforms of justice, criminal justice, and elections legislation.
“As soon as the Ukrainian side takes decisive steps and shows noticeable progress in the three arrears mentioned in the conclusions of the Council of the European Union, and implements the necessary internal procedures, the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement should be signed without delay and there should be foreseen an opportunity to use some of its parts, particularly those connected with the creation of a deep and comprehensive free trade area, before the completion of the process of its ratification by all EU Member States,” reads the document.
The Ukrainian parliament also called on the EU to ensure that the EU-Ukraine Visa Facilitation Agreement is implemented strictly and in full and that the right of Ukrainian citizens to travel in the EU is respected without the humiliation of their honor and dignity.
The Verkhovna Rada also called on the EU to approve the passing to the final implementation phase of the VLAP, as well as permitting visa free travel to Ukrainian citizens as soon as all necessary conditions are fulfilled."
Then:
"Ukrainian MPs have voted to oust President Viktor Yanukovych and hold early presidential elections on 25 May.
The vote came after police stopped guarding presidential buildings, allowing protesters in, and parliament made new high-level appointments.
Mr Yanukovych said it was a "coup" and vowed not to stand down.
The vote to "remove Viktor Yanukovych from the post of president of Ukraine" was passed by 328 MPs.
Such ballots, passed by what is called constitutional majority, are binding and enter into force with immediate effect, the BBC's Ukraine analyst Olexiy Solohubenko reports.
In an address televised before the vote to impeach him, Mr Yanukovych described events in Kiev as a "coup".
He insisted he was the "lawfully elected president" and compared the actions of the opposition to the rise to power of the Nazis in 1930s Germany.
In his address Mr Yanukovych also called a raft of votes in Ukraine's parliament on Friday "illegitimate", claiming that MPs had been "beaten, pelted with stones and intimidated".
However, he did admit that that some had left his Party of the Regions, calling them "traitors".
Before the vote to oust Mr Yanukovych, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski - one of three EU ministers who mediated between the two sides this week - tweeted that there had been "no coup in Kiev".
Mr Sikorski, along with the German and French foreign ministers, presided over talks that led to a pact on Friday between Mr Yanukovych and opposition leaders which now seems to have been overtaken by events.
The deal followed several days of violence in which dozens of people died in a police crackdown on months of protest. It called for the restoration of the 2004 constitution and the formation of a national unity government.
The agreement failed to end the protests overnight with huge crowds remaining in the Maidan calling for Mr Yanukovych's resignation.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the deal had been "sharply degraded by opposition forces' inability or lack of desire" to respect it and accused "illegal extremist groups" of taking control of Kiev, Reuters reports.
The protests first erupted in late November when President Yanukovych rejected a landmark association and trade deal with the EU in favour of closer ties with Russia."
There is a book been cited as well: Dinan, Desmond; Nugent, Neil (eds.).
The European Union in Crisis. Palgrave Macmillan. which has a bit in it. I haven't read it. We are very aware of Putin's interference in Ukrainian domestic affairs and Lavrov's statement above more or less confirms the Russian petulance.
