Ukrainian politologist: Authorities lack legal means to struggle against protesters

The fate of Ukraine will be determined in the nearest days.

Volodymyr Horbach, a political analyst at the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation, discussed latest events in Ukraine with charter97.org.

“In this situation, violence will be used today or tomorrow if the authorities choose it. If we don't see violence today or tomorrow, it means the situation will develop through negotiations, agreements and concessions from the authorities. Last evening and night showed that the regime lacks legal power and resources to struggle against protesters. The authorities involve criminal elements. The so called titushki are coordinated and protected by law-enforcement agencies in eastern and central regions. It shows that the regime doesn't have other resources. It cross all legal boundaries and entered the illegal field. It will be natural for the regime to legitimate its crimes by declaring a state of emergency,” he noted.

The analyst if confident that Saturday negotiations between the opposition and Yanukovych were “not serious and the offer of the PM's post to Yatsenyuk was a joke”.

“When Yatsenyuk spoke about the resignation of Azarov's cabinet during the talks, Yanokovych said with a grin the country didn't have another specialist of Azarov's level expect for Arseniy Petrovych [Yatsenyuk],” the expert underlined.

“It is a game of nerves, a big strategic game,” the politologist thinks.

“The president doesn't want to give his power, of course. He understands power is a life-and-death issue for him. Maybe the opposition would like to reach a compromise with the president, but protests, resistance and the factual uprising won't accept the variant of compromises with Yanukovych. They will lose their supporters. The opposition has to walk on the brink not to lead the situation to bloodshed, but on the other hand, not to surrender on Yanukovych's conditions, because it will worsen the position of the opposition leaders. The longer the opposition will balance on these contradictions, the weaker the president and the stronger protests will become. The key date is tomorrow's session of the parliament and votes in favour and against violence. The state of emergency and violence will mean the agony of the regime that won't endure long in any case. At least it Yanukovych doesn't and cannot have such resources as Lukashenka,” Volodymyr Horbach said.

Protests in Ukraine that began more than two months ago over failure to sign an Association Agreement with the EU spread across the country. News about attacks or attempts to take over regional administrations on Sunday came from a number of regions, including Eastern ones. Regional governors are appointed by president Yanukovych, that's why thousands of protesters gathers near local administrations. Violent clashes took place in Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk on Sunday. Protesters seized the administration without a struggle in Sumy and began to set up barricades. Berkut police dispersed the protesters in Zaporizhia on Monday night and began to catch them in the town. The authorities in Odessa gathered 1,000 defenders and avoided the seizure. Residents of Donetsk, where clashes took place, were called to defend administrative buildings via text messages.

Photo: obozrevatel.com