The Security Service of Ukraine and the nation's interior minister threatened to use all means available against protsters if massive clashes with police do not end by 6 p.m. on Feb. 18. The clashes started after weeks of a ceasefire in violance and futile attempts to find a political solution of the crisis in Ukraine, which enters its fourth month this week.
“If by 6 p.m. the lawlessness doesn’t cease, we shall be forced to used all legal means to bring order,” Security Service of Ukraine acting head Oleksandr Yakymenko and acting Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko said.
Three people were reported dead and dozens injured by early afternoon, but instead of peace negotiations, the sides appeared to be drifting further apart and threatening each other with escalation.
The ruling pro-presidential Party of Regions renewed its pleas to President Viktor Yanukovych to introduce a state of emergency in Ukraine, while the militant Right Sector urged legal arms owners to come out to the streets to defend the protesters from the police, who use guns massively.
By 4:30 p.m., all metro stations were closed off, and all roads leading to Kyiv were blocked, according to the protsters, while Berkut riot-control police advanced from many side streets on EuroMaidan’s Independence Square, which has served as the base for protesters since Dec. 1.
“The government has plenty of power and instruments to bring order, and it is obliged to use them,” the Party of Regions Donetsk branch said in its open address to the president. “It has to be done now if we don’t want to lose our country forever.”
The president’s loyal Party of Regions was angered by the protesters bringing the fight to their home base, the central headquarters on Lypska Street in Kyiv, just a block away from the parliament. Regions members messaged each other that one person suffocated and another one was murdered in the central office. The Ministry for Emergencies said one body was found in the office, but could not provide any details.
Political analysts said the president is getting a lot of advise to introduce the state of emergency in the country as a response to the escalating violence, which would constitute a move away from potential compromise with the protesters.
What protesters want
The clashes in central Kyiv were provoked by the authorities’ refusal to cede to political demands of the opposition, primarily curbing presidential powers through changes to the constitution to curb presidential powers, and formation of a new technocratic government with popular trust.
Last week, the sides appeared to be moving towards a political compromise. Members of the opposition spent many hours in talks with the president, and opposition leader Arseniy Yatseniuk was reported to be close to being offered the prime minister’s job in a coalition government.
Both sides made several steps towards each other over the weekend to make a law on amnesty work.
The government released all detainees under house arrest last week, while the protesters cleared parts of Hrushevskoho Street and vacated Kyiv City Hall on Feb. 17, which was under the protesters’ control since Dec. 1.
But the turning point — once again — involved Russia and its money. Russia’s finance minister said on Feb. 17 that Russia will buy $2 billion in Ukraine eurobonds this week, resuming aid to Ukraine that it has suspended last month after Prime Minister Mykola Azarov resigned. The Kremlin said it would withhold aid until it knows what the new government will be like.
Many observers interpreted the release of aid as a sign that a pro-Russian or neutral prime minister is about to be appointed, most likely Serhiy Arbuzov, who is believed to be a part of the president’s inner circle.
And as the parliament prepared to convene for a session on Feb. 18, representatives of the Party of Regions made it perfectly clear that they have no intention to vote for a special legal act proposed by the opposition as a compromise way to return to the 2004 constitution.
“The thing is, the this act cannot be registered if it violates the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure,” said Yuriy Miroshnychenko, the president’s representative in parliament. The act offered by the opposition, according to the opinion of the staff of Verkhovna Rada, does violate the Constitution.”
State of emergency possible
But instead of offering meaningful negotiations with the frustrated protesters, the government has issued an ultimatum to clear the streets by6 p.m. Many say it will backfire as the Right Sector called on owners of legal weapons to come to the streets.
“We have confirmed information about the high probability of dispersal of Maidan with the help of armored vehicles and firearms,” the Right Sector announced. “In connection with this, we are urging all owners of legal weapons to assemble on Maidan and form units for defense of people from the servants of criminal government.”
Yuriy Lutsenko, former Interior Minister, said from stage on EuroMaidan that people will likely listen. “I know that in a few hours there will be a lot of us here,” he said as he called on the attacking police and Berkut officers to stop advancing on peaceful protests.
“Is this deadline issued to make sure that the office crowd gets out to the streets?” said one government consultant, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said the next move from the government would be the state of emergency.
But Oleksandr Lytvyn, deputy head of Nova Ukraina think tank and a former senior SBU officer, said that many elements of it are already in operation. He said the law on state of emergency envisages blockade of government buildings and territories and limitation of peaceful gatherings – all of which are already in place.
Other elements, such as censorship of media, would be impossible to enforce further. “It’s already happening on TV, and it’s impossible to switch off Internet because the banking, tax system and other vital elements of communication will go down,” he said.
“It’s a big question how to implement a state of emergency, because (the authorities) bearely have the resources to support the status quo,” he said. He also added that army involvement is only possible in case of a military curfew, a further step away from the state of emergency, and it’s not clear if the army would comply anyway.
But the big question is whether the government actually realizes what their options are, because there are few professionals left in the government,” Litvinenko said.
Kyiv Post deputy chief editor Katya Gorchinskaya can be reached at [email protected]
