KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine on Tuesday moved to resolve months of crisis by strengthening ties to Europe and loosening some controls over the country’s rebellious eastern regions where it has been fighting Russian-backed separatists.
The actions by lawmakers began to flesh out the emerging picture of a new Ukraine, where a determined pivot toward Europe has come at great cost: concessions to Russia and a war with rebels that killed more than 3,000 people and pushed the West’s relations with Moscow to Cold War-era lows.
The measure deepening the economic and political ties with Europe was the issue that sparked the crisis last fall, when then-President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to shelve the deal in favor of closer ties with Russia sparked protests by hundreds of thousands. Those demonstrations eventually drove him from power in February and led to the annexation of Crimea by Moscow and the rebellion in the east, where a shaky cease-fire began Sept. 5.
The deal lowers trade tariffs between Europe and Ukraine, requires Ukrainian goods to meet European regulatory standards and forces the Kiev government to undertake major political and economic reforms.
President Petro Poroshenko called the vote a “first but very decisive step” toward bringing Ukraine fully into the European Union.
The parliament also approved laws granting temporary self-rule to rebellious, pro-Russian regions in the east, as well as amnesty for many of those involved in the fighting.
The lawmakers took that action behind closed doors, in stark contrast to the patriotic fanfare of that vote on the European agreement. In his thunderous speech, Poroshenko did not mention those two measures, which are likely to generate far more controversy among Ukrainians.
Alexander Zakharchenko, the leader of the rebels in the Donetsk region, told Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency that the separatist leadership would study the measures, a conciliatory statement compared with the rebels’ previous assertions to aim for independence.
The U.S. State Department congratulated the Ukrainian lawmakers.
The EU association agreement was long sought by Ukrainians who want their country to turn westward and out of Russia’s sphere of influence, and its passage was welcomed by many in Kiev, even if they also were worried about some of the government’s actions.
“I participated in the protests, and we’ve been waiting for this for so long,” said Rostislav Sezov, adding that he didn’t oppose greater autonomy for regions in the east. “Let us be smaller but better. Let us be a core that is oriented toward Europe.”
