Putin vs. Pro-West Ukrainians (Revolt in Kiev Against Reabsorption by Russia, Lenin Statue Toppled)

FrontPage ^ | December 10, 2013 | Arnold Ahlert

[xzins]

The massively attended Sunday protest in Kiev, highlighted by the toppling and smashing of the monument to Vladimir Lenin, has apparently forced Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s hand. Yesterday, he called for talks with former government leaders and opposition forces aimed at resolving the nation’s political crisis. It is a crisis ignited by his decision to turn away from Europe and feed Russian strongman Vladimir Putin’s dreams of a Eurasian Union, which is little more than a thinly-veiled effort to restore Russian hegemony over large swaths of Eastern Europe.

The current standoff is reminiscent of the Orange Revolution that took place in 2004, when a pro-democratic government was swept into power. Thus it was hardly surprising when government officials announced on Sunday that they would undertake an investigation against opposition leaders they accuse of attempting to seize power, and warned demonstrators that they could also be subjected to criminal charges. That investigation will be conducted by the Ukrainian security service SBU, formerly known as the KGB.

Yanukovych’s conciliatory gesture, based on former President Leonid Kravchuk’s call for an “all-national round table,” that includes three former presidents of Ukraine who favor closer EU ties, was belied by threats of a crackdown. Pro-European demonstrators currently occupying a city government administration building claimed heavily armed riot police broke into their Fatherland Party offices. They reportedly entered through doors and windows and seized computer servers. An additional cadre of riot police have also massed behind barricades erected by protesters to block off Independence Square, and metro stations near the area were closed due to a purported bomb threat.

Sunday’s demonstration in Kiev, which may have been attended by as many as a million people, was buttressed by demonstrations in other cities around the country. These “EuroMaidan” protests in favor of establishing closer ties with the European Union have been ongoing for the three weeks following Yanukovych’s refusal to sign an agreement with the EU. And while that may have been the initial impetus for the uprising, the protests have become more anti-government in general. Opposition leaders have rejected calls for talks until the police who beat protesters at a demonstration November 30 are arrested, detained demonstrators are released, and the current cabinet is fired. Many are also calling for Yanukovych himself to resign.

Currently the protests remain peaceful, with both opposition party and protest leaders calling for calm. Yet there is differing opinion on what should happen next. Kateryna Kobko, a 19-year-old student, believes the protests should “get more radical” because Yanukovich’s Party of Regions “is a malformed structure, and the system built on it must be fully destroyed.” Twenty-two-year-old student Roman Bilan believes “the peaceful mass protest is the only way to go.” Political consultant Taras Berezovets thinks Yanukovych will call for a state of emergency, despite the possibility that his support among the police is on the wane. ”Yanukovych may through the parliament ask Russia to send peacekeeping troops,” he speculated, adding that it would be unlikely absent an escalation.

It may take more than that. Yesterday Sergei Markov, Putin political advisor and vice rector of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics conceded that the Ukrainian situation is currently “too explosive right now” and that any linkage between Putin’s anticipated customs union and Ukraine could take years. But he noted that Putin believes it will happen eventually. “Putin believes that time is on his side and Russia will benefit in the end,” he added.

The newfound reticence seems surprising, given that Putin met with Yanukovych as recently as last Friday, in an effort to shore up the proposed ”strategic partnership” between the two nations. It is a deal undoubtedly bolstered by Russian threats of trade retaliation against Ukraine, underscored by the reality that Ukraine is on the hook for $17 billion in debt repayments and Russian gas bills due next year. Despite being a key east-west energy transit route, Ukraine currently needs $10 billion to avoid possible default, even as the country remains mired in its third recession since 2008. Yanukovych has repeatedly rejected bailout terms offered by the EU’s International Monetary Fund (IMF), but remains enticed by Russia’s offer of financial aid and cheaper energy prices.

So why does Russia remain non-committal? Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev, who yesterday insisted there are “no preliminary agreements” between the two nations, claimed that any agreement “assumes a massive amount of work and a clear desire to join on the part of a country that’s a possible candidate. We have seen no such clear desire,” he contended.

Nonsense. As The Atlantic’s Brian Whitmore explains, protests in the Ukraine have galvanized Russian opposition to Vladimir Putin’s autocratic rule. Protesters have gathered outside the Ukrainian Embassy in Moscow, and 30 high-profile Russians writers and poets wrote an open letter in support of their Ukrainian counterparts, noting that their demonstrations “would be a sign that in Russia we too can defend our rights and freedoms. We are with you!”

Whitmore further explains that the timing of the current protests is significant in that they are occurring almost exactly two years after Russians engaged in the largest anti-government demonstration since the fall of the Soviet Union. Writing for the New York Times, Moscow journalist Masha Gessen illuminates the significance of Ukraine’s unrest. “Russia is using every kind of pressure–from threatening economic sanctions to declaring tens of thousands of Ukrainians persona non grata–all in order to drag Ukraine back into the Middle Ages with it,” she writes. “Western Europe, which has many demands of its own, promises a future of openness and progress.” She further notes that if the protests succeed, “they may change the future of not one but two of the largest countries in Europe.”

Putin is keenly aware of the consequences of such success. Eight days ago, he characterized the demonstrations as a “pogrom.” “This internal political process is an attempt by the opposition to destabilize the existing legitimate rule in the country,” he said during a visit to the former Soviet nation of Armenia. Yesterday he upped the ante, dissolving the state news agency RIA Novosti. It will be replaced with an entity called Rossiya Segodnya, which will be tasked with the mission of promoting Russia’s image around the world. It marks Putin’s second effort in two weeks to accomplish what RIA described as ”a series of shifts in Russia’s news landscape which appear to point towards a tightening of state control in the already heavily regulated media sector.”

Unsurprisingly, Radio Free Europe reveals that Russian media coverage of the protests in Ukraine have been “odd” and “misleading” and have “spared no efforts to portray the protesters as a horde of hooligans funded by the West to topple Yanukovych and sow chaos in Ukraine.” Leading the effort is Dmitry Kiselyov, tapped to lead the newly-created Rossiya Segodnya. He has accused protestors of ruining Christmas, surviving on lard, and using ”ancient African military techniques” against Ukrainian police. Kiselyov, who has publicly stated that homosexuals should be banned from donating blood, sperm and organs, described Ukrainian boxing champ and opposition leader Vitali Klitschko and his brother, Vladimir, as gay icons.

Klitschko demonstrated why he’s a target. ”We call on people to stand their ground, and peacefully, without using force or aggression, to defend their right to live in a free country,” he said according to Reuters. ”We are expecting the break-up by police of peaceful demonstrators. If blood is spilled during this dispersing, this blood will be on the hands of the person who ordered it: …[President Viktor] Yanukovych.”

Larger forces remain in play. In the West, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso emphasized “the need for a political” solution. Toward that end he has sent EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to Kiev for a two day visit beginning today. She is tasked with mediating a solution between the two factions. Vice President Joe Biden has spoken with Yanukovych by phone. “He noted that violence has no place in a democratic society and is incompatible with our strategic relationship,” said the White House in a statement explaining Biden’s objective. Barroso also spoke with Yanukovych by phone. “I’ve asked him to show restraint in the face of the recent developments, to not use force against the people who are demonstrating peacefully,” Barroso said.

The Russian side of the equation is illuminated by Financial Times columnist Gideon Rachman. He explains that the demonstrations are “both a humiliation and a threat to Mr. Putin,” because his “main foreign-policy goal is the construction of a sphere of influence for Russia, covering most of the old Soviet Union” and Ukraine “is meant to be the jewel in the crown.” He further notes that because the highly nationalistic Putin views Russia as a unique civilization, he finds the idea that Ukrainians could be more attracted to Europe “offensive.”

There are darker motives at work as well. ”Ukraine performs a vital role for the not-so-open elements of the Russian economy,” New York University professor and longtime Kremlin-watcher Mark Galeotti contends. “Ukraine is an initial pre-wash venue for dirty Russian money. We’ve seen the port of Odessa being used for all kinds of dubious arms deals…. Losing that would affect not only the Kremlin but also the profitable opportunities of a large number of people whose opinions matter to the Kremlin.”

Late yesterday, police began moving against some of the demonstrators, dismantling camps set up in front of government buildings. Prosecutor-General Viktor Pshonka issued a warning, telling the demonstrators to cease creating “anarchy and lawlessness” by blocking the buildings. As of now, no action has been taken against the crowds occupying Independence Square. How long it will stay that way remains to be seen.

[mac_truck]

Lol!

Do you have any evidence that photo wasn't taken in 2004? Or that is hasn't been digitally manipulated?

Who's the "leader" in the black jacket?

I'm sure your boyfriends at Reddit know the answer..

[Navy Patriot]

The Ukrainians don’t trust anyone as you would not after what they have been through. What they are looking for is a trade agreement not membership in the EU

There is a strong nationalist movement now that I think will prevail

I think you're right.

The Serbs got no mercy from the West when it was necessary to make them toe the Western line, and Georgia got no help for willingly toeing the Western line.

All the Ukrainians need is to be able to accurately predict the future.

[varmintman]

Some reason why the Ukraine would want to end up like Greece, Cyprus, or Portugal?? Looks to me like they chose life over death...

[Tailgunner Joe]

The USA did help Georgia. We armed them and helped them shoot down Russian jets and kill Russians. We sent our ships to the Black Sea carrying nuclear missiles and Putin backed off because he is afraid of the USA. When Georgia needs help again we will help them kill more Russians.

[jimbo123]

It’s all about Western Ukraine vs. Eastern/Soviet Ukraine.

Lots of History.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_annexation_of_the_western_Ukrainian_territories

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_collaborationism_with_the_Axis_powers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NKVD_prisoner_massacres

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepan_Bandera

[Tailgunner Joe]

I see the Georgian flag made an appearance in that picture, Georgians know better than to try to appease the mass-murdering war criminal KGB Putin since he invaded their country and massacred thousands of innocent Christians souls.

Saakashvili Addresses Protesters In Kiev - December 7, 2013 - “Ukrainian triumph will put an end to the era of Vladimir Putin and it will start here, on this very square,” he said.

Saakashvili, who graduated from the Taras Shevchenko National University in Kiev in 1992 after serving with the Soviet border troops in Ukraine, addressed the rally in Ukrainian reading out from notes.

“I am Georgian, I am Ukrainian, therefore I am European,” he said.

Earlier on Saturday he told Tbilisi-based Rustavi 2 TV in Kiev that developments in Ukraine are of vital importance for Georgia. “Georgia’s fate is also being decided here. We can’t remain passive observers,” he said.

[Mrs. Don-o]

And look, oh my goodness, 3 out of 3 are wearing crosses.

[1rudeboy]

Stuff it, Ivan. I am to believe that this is all a Soros-led conspiracy, but you cannot believe a single photo or video easily found on the Internet.

[1rudeboy]

Do you remember, when the Russians invaded Georgia, a couple of our resident Bolsheviks trying to convince the rest of us that it was a military operation against Muslims?

Because they "heard*" it somewhere. LOLOL

_____
*From the Kremlin.

[Tailgunner Joe]

They also tried to convince us that actually Georgia attacked Russia first and Putin was only defending Russia from Georgian aggression.

Their lies are laughable.

[1rudeboy]

I should’ve bookmarked some of those threads. They were a hoot. Although I suppose, if Putin decides to “liberate” [snort] Ukraine, our Bolshie friends will be back.

[Edward Teach]

This is what they are fighting for!

Boooah! Where do I sign up? What was this thread about anyway?

[1rudeboy]

These are the soldiers you will be fighting with . . . good luck.

[GeronL]

I don’t consider the EU to be “pro-west” any more

[1rudeboy]

And that’s completely acceptable . . . but if it causes you to fantasize about how Vladimir Putin will take care of, and comfort, you . . . then you have larger issues to worry about other than the EU.

[GeronL]

I don’t think they should get closer to Russia either. I wouldn’t trust Putin any more than I trust Obama

[rcrngroup]

I will take number 1... or 2.... or 3

[xzins]

I do consider Putin still to be an old order communist.

[SRT8 man]

They’re freeer in the Russian Federation than in the EU.
It ain’t the Soviet Union anymore.

[goldstategop]

Ukrainians are as deeply divided as Belarussians. Some see themselves being closer to Russia and others are closer to the West.

Russia would like Ukraine to join the Customs Union to counterbalance the Central Asian Muslims. But that’s not likely to happen in the Putin Era.

I see the old Soviet ties gradually being restored of necessity but no one wants a recreation of the Soviet Union. It would never work.