Yanukovych ready for negotiations with opposition, says Yatseniuk

22:29, 19.01.2014 1 min read

Leader of the Batkivschyna parliamentary faction Arseniy Yatseniuk says that President Viktor Yanukovych has phoned him to inform about his readiness for negotiations.

"They've announced they're ready to start negotiations," he said from the stage on Maidan Nezalezhnosti on Sunday evening, saying that Yanukovych had phoned him just before that.

Yatseniuk says that Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Andriy Kliuyev is responsible for the negotiations, Batkivschyna's press service announced.

"This is my vision. Firstly, the mandate for the negotiations should be authorized by the Maidan [protesters] only. Secondly, the negotiations should be the public ones. Thirdly, our negotiations mean the fulfillment of our demands… Our policy should be transparent and open. This is what we're fighting for and this is the policy we'll be building in the country," Yatseniuk added.

He also announced that consultations between the three opposition forces - Batkivschyna, Svoboda and UDAR – would be held shortly after.