Yanukovich refused to sign EU association in November. I am wondering if the EU association was approved by most of Ukrainian through voting (or other ways), and Yanukovich disobeyed the voting results.
Association pact is a purely economical agreement that is mediated by governments only. So no, he did not violate anything. However, 42% of the population supports European integration, while only 31% wants to join the Customs Union, seen as USSR v2.0
Don't forget the fact that Ukraine haven't declined signing, it was postponed. Government was just negotiating better terms for Ukraine. The thing they are responsible for.
As a Ukrainian living in London I'd say that nobody in sane mind in UK, and probably in EU will let Ukraine join EU. Mind Greece and Cyprus.
Check the numbers: http://atlas.media.mit.edu/country/ukr/
25% of export and 36% of import are Russian goods, several times more than EU combined. Sign that agreement as EU pushes it - Ukraine would be isolated, poor and really unhappy.
And that is the problem here. No side has a clear majority, and any decision is going to be tough. Forcing the decision, either one, in this moment can lead only to country wide divide, since both parties feel stronly about this topic, and no compromise is possible.
Whatever is my opinion is not important, but "huge majority" of 42% shouldn't be allowed to force their decision to "only" 31% minority. I think Janukovič got it right here, not wanting to side with any side and trying to just keep it as neutral as possible. It is not a good idea to decide about such a big topic like future of the whole country and which union to join based on such a small "majority".
In the long run, the best thing is to just do nothing right now, and try to reach some kind of compromise in a deeply divided country that is equally acceptable to both sides. Whatever that compromise might be, going west, or going east, or peacefully splitting the country in two/three parts, everything is better than inevitable escalation that this leads to.
The protests are not about the deal with the EU or Russia. The protests are against the current corrupt government in general and its brutal response to the initially peaceful protests. Having spoken to Ukrainians who have been participating in the protests, they told me that they would not care whether or not the EU nor the Russian deal is signed, they just want to get rid of the current government either way.
Customs union is just customs union, like Mercosur or Andean community or European customs union. Union State[1] is more like USSR v2.0 but still very far from it.
Those numbers show a divided country (on this issue). 42% is nothing to sneeze at but it shows the majority is either ambivalent or against. Given those circumstances, it's reasonable for a government to choose not to sign the pact.
