Yanukovych responsible for prospects of Ukraine's EU membership - opposition leader

KYIV. Oct 19 (Interfax) - Responsibility for prospects of Ukraine's accession to the European Union rests with the incumbent government and personally President Viktor Yanukovych, says Arseny Yatsenyuk, the chairman of the council of the United Opposition Batkivshchyna.

"Responsibility for whether Ukraine will be a member of the European Union or not rests primarily with the president of Ukraine and the authorities," Yatsenyuk said on Channel 5 television on Friday evening.

The opposition cannot rig the elections, Yatsenyuk said. "The opposition does not have such opportunities. Elections are falsified only by the authorities," he said.

Yatsenyuk suggested that it is clear already now that "the elections will not be recognized as fully democratic."

"If our Western partners recognize the elections as undemocratic, this will mean not only Ukraine's isolation, but also sanctions will be imposed on the people who falsified the elections," he said.

The opposition does not want ordinary people to suffer from the government's actions, because, if the elections are rigged, Ukraine will not sign agreements with the EU on facilitating visa regulations and on a free trade area, he said.

"If the elections are undemocratic, then this will drag us into the world where we used to be. That world was called the Soviet Union, and today this is called the Customs Union," Yatsenyuk said.

Asked whether the opposition can somehow make sure that the ballots to be cast in the parliamentary elections are counted fairly, Yatsenyuk said that as many voters as possible should go to polling stations, which should prevent vote rigging. "We have dozens of thousands of election commission members, observers, and journalists, we have engaged hundreds of thousands of foreign observers, and we have launched a powerful legal machinery to protect the election results," he said.

Asked whether people could protest if they feel that the elections are rigged, Yatsenyuk recalled the 2004 presidential elections. "Nobody knew then how the things would develop. If the people are deprived of their right to change government, they sooner or later stand up and kick out those who infringe on their rights and freedoms."

va

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