According to an article published on the Wall Street Journal,"while some powerful businessmen seemed to publicly lean toward the demonstrators, Mr. Yanukovych offered an amnesty for those who were arrested during the crackdown and promised a moratorium on the use of force, but he rejected opposition demands that he resign or call early elections and took a hard line on the EU deal, calling it "not only bad but against the interests of Ukraine."
Two days after promising the EU's top foreign policy envoy that he would sign the accord, Mr. Yanukovych said that the Ukrainian officials who negotiated the pact for Kiev would be investigated "and held responsible."
Mr. Yanukovych said the EU pact couldn't be signed unless new terms were reached that minimized what he said would be the negative impact on Ukraine's economy.
The 63-year-old president has been maneuvering between the EU and Russia as he looks for the best way to salvage Ukraine's recession-hobbled economy and shore up billions of dollars in external financing to avoid a default. The government has depleted its foreign currency reserves by propping up the exchange rate of the hryvnia.
Western leaders have urged Ukraine to sign up for International Monetary Fund aid and the EU trade and political-association pact. Russia has suggested Ukraine join a trade union it has formed with other former Soviet republics. Russia could also reduce the price it charges Ukraine for natural gas and thus alleviate pressure on its finances.
Mr. Yanukovych's about-face on the EU deal brought tens of thousands of protesters into the streets of the capital, where they have set up a camp in the main square surrounded by makeshift barricades. Police have twice attacked the demonstrators in unsuccessful efforts to drive them off.
Protesters supporting Mr. Yanukovych have also arrived in the Ukrainian capital, where mass demonstrations on both sides were expected this weekend. The atmosphere was tense: Many worry there could be clashes between the opposing camps or provocations designed to give police a reason to take control.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland subsequently made an appearance on the Kiev square and handed out food. A number of European leaders, including Germany's foreign minister and the EU's foreign policy chief, have also visited, moves that have drawn fire from Russia.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Friday described the visits by Western officials as "crude intervention in the internal affairs of a sovereign state." Mr. Medvedev urged Ukraine to overcome a "tectonic split" that he said threatens its existence.
His comments came a day after Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov presented Ukraine's dilemma as a choice between east and west in comments to Russia's Itar-Tass news agency. He said there is "no possibility to arrange a special format" for Ukraine that will allow it to develop eastward and westward simultaneously.
"Ukraine itself determines a status that is most suitable to it: Whether it will continue talks with the EU on a free-trade zone or seek closer economic ties with Russia," Mr. Shuvalov said. "We shall support whatever decision Ukraine makes."
