American expert: People will stop Lukashenisation of Ukraine

Viktor Yanukovych won't be able to follow the path of the Belarusian dictator.

Adrian Karatnycky, an expert on Eastern Europe in the Atlantic Council, said it in an interview with Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland), Glavcom reports.

Yanukovych may try to take this path, but civil society in Ukraine is stronger than in Belarus. It won't allow Lukashenisation of Ukraine, the expert thinks.

Yanukovych may try to become even Pinochet or someone much worse, declare a state of emergency and even martial law, but it will lead to hundreds and thousands of killed people and victims of repressions, according to him.

Karatnycki says he is not sure martial law could be declared, because no one knows if the army will be loyal to the president or split. The expert turns attention to the fact that special police forces and bandits from the Kharkiv region are used against protesters.

The Ukrainian authorities and opposition representatives agreed at the talks to repeal the laws adopted on January16 restricting civil freedoms. The statement was made by Ukraine's justice minister Olena Lukash on Tuesday night. The Rada is expected to hold a special session and approve again the laws that don't provoke discontent.

The leader of Batkivshchyna party, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, rejected Viktor Yanukovych's offer to lead the government. The head of state offered the PM's post to the opposition politician during the negotiation on Saturday.