Ukrainian expert: Yanukovych aims to win time and cut down tension

At the same time Ukraine’s presidents is not going to negotiate with the opposition.

This is how a political analyst of the Institute of Euro-Atlantic Cooperation Volodymir Horbach commented for the charter97.org web-site on the latest events in Kiev.

“The escalation of the conflict took place, because the authorities did not react at all to all the peaceful requirements of Maydan. The authorities boycotted all the events, held in Maydan over two months already, and in which millions of people participated. Of course, these people had to react in a different way, because the absence of a reaction is humiliation of human dignity. That is why the outburst of emotions was inevitable”, - the analyst pointed out.

Despite the fact that there were not so many immediate participants of the clashes, they have many supporters, he believes.

“Of course, it did not go without certain provocations, but this was all strongly supported by the public sentiment, there were many people there, who supported those, who started, and helped them and even came to take watch at night”, - he said.

According to the expert, “there should be no illusions as to any equilibrium of forces”.

“It is obvious that from the point of view of brutal physical force, even more so weapons, the authorities take the lead. But moral superiority and rightness are on the side of the Resistance as the protest phase turned into the resistance phase. On the side of the Resistance is also the western public opinion, diplomats and politicians, who also put serious pressure on president Yanukovych, and I think it was the decisive factor yesterday for the authorities to only defend, not to attack”, - the analyst emphasized.

At the same time Volodymir Horbach believes that they will act symmetrically, starting criminal cases and imprisoning people one by one.

“Yanukovych suggested creating a commission. It is clear that one the one hand he wants to win time in order to put off this psychological pressure. On the other hand he suggests an absolutely unbelievable option for the working group, which will be comprised of people, with whom there can be no negotiations just like with Yanukovych himself. But at least he as the leader of the regime makes decisions, whereas those people do not. Nevertheless, Yanukovych decided to put them on the negotiations frontline, in order to seem a peacemaker, but not to be involved in that and not look weak in the eyes of Putin and his electorate”, - the political scientist concluded.

We would remind that after the ninth consecutive public council in Kiev the protesters, among whom there were radical activists, went on to picket the Supreme Council, but had to face a cordon of riot police and interior troops near Lobanovsky stadium. Clashes started between radicals and police forces. The activists started setting police cars on fire. The police responded with water cannons and rubber bullets. There are dozens injured on both sides. The USA and EU urged for negotiations with all the parties involved in order to solve the political crisis, consider the demands of the protesters and prevent the violence from escalating. President Viktor Yanukovych suggested a round table with the participation of the opposition.

Photo: obozrevatel.com