Question No. 1: Mr. President, how are you planning to solve the nation’s political crisis, beyond the steps you’ve already taken, since these steps aren’t working?
I have many other questions on this disappointing day.
Last night, a ray of hope for an end to the nation’s protracted political crisis appeared. By morning, it disappeared.
Yuriy Miroshnychenko — the president’s official representative in parliament — went on ICTV channel on Feb. 3 and said Yanukovych is considering early presidential and parliamentary elections as a compromise to end the standoff that began with the anti-government EuroMaidan protests on Nov. 21.
The next day, Miroshnychenko told Interfax-Ukraine that no such option is on the agenda.
Who got to him overnight? Or was Miroshnychenko simply voicing his own opinion?
In any case, today’s parliament session showed that lawmakers are not any closer to a political settlement as the street protests deepen and spread throughout the nation.
Meanwhile, the president – who emerged from a four-day sick leave on Feb. 3 in what appears to be a peaceful mood – has stayed silent in public about his next moves.
What he’s done so far, however, is not a winning strategy.
The resignation of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov is a start, but does not signify a real power-sharing arrangement with the opposition, especially after Yanukovych monopolized the executive, legislative and judicial branches under his control since taking power in 2010.
The repeal of the Jan. 16 anti-free speech and anti-protest laws is no step forward, since they shouldn’t have been adopted in the first place.
And the conditional amnesty, extended to detained and arrested protesters, is deeply flawed, since no one in the opposition or among the protests trusts that the government will live up to its word. And, as exiled Spilna Sprava leader Oleksandr Danylyuk said from London, there is nothing to prevent law enforcement from launching a new crackdown after the demonstrators are released.
So, it appears that the only way out is what Miroshnychenko suggested on ICTV channel last night – early presidential and parliamentary elections to clear the protesters from the street.
The argument that Yanukovych was elected to a five-year term and deserves to serve its entirety before standing for re-election has been undermined. He can continue taking this position, but it will only lead to more conflict, stalemate and economic decline.
Considering that the hryvnia is dipping – to 8.8 against the dollar today – and is expected to decline to 9.5 in the next six months, the time to put aside political differences is long past.
Prolonging the conflict now courts economic disaster on a scale that no Russian or Western bailout can help.
So here’s some of my other questions for the president:
· Did you authorize a “death squad” to harass, kidnap and beat EuroMaidan leaders, such as AutoMaidan’s Dmytro Bulatov and activist Ihor Lutsenko, and to kill Yuriy Verbytsky? If not, who did and what are you doing to punish these people?
· Did you authorize police officers to fire live ammunition at demonstrators on Jan. 22, killing Serhiy Nihoyan, Roman Senyk and Mikhaylo Zhiznevsky? If not, who did and what are you doing to punish these people?
· Did you authorize the hiring of “titushkis,” private goons, to do the dirty work of police? If not, who did and what are you going to do to punish these people?
· How do you answer journalist-activist Tetyana Chornovol’s accusations that you ordered her beating on Dec. 25? Is there anything to her charges that she discovered “Mezhyhyria – 2,” another mansion under your control? By the way, how did you acquire Mezhyhyria and at what price?
· Why do you silently tolerate the absurd denials of officials, such as Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara, about the extent and nature of Bulatov’s injuries?
· Why do you silently tolerate other officials, including Kozhara, implying that anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi views are prevalent in the EuroMaidan movement, when the bulk of the evidence shows these are ordinary citizens taking to the streets?
· Why do you allow the Interior Ministry to claim hundreds of police officers have been injured in the clashes, without offering proof or names?
· Why do you allow police to continue hiding behind masks, helmets and no identifying badges?
I appreciate the corner in which you’ve painted yourself in, Mr. President. But who is to blame for that?
Misleading the nation into thinking that Ukraine is going to sign the association agreement with the European Union, only to abruptly do a U-turn on Nov. 21 and accept a Russian $15 billion bailout and cheaper gas is a breathtaking bit of political chutzpah.
That decision and a series of other miscalculations have not only brought political crisis, they are threatening to bring economic crisis as well.
Who will win in such a situation?
It seems there are only two options left – crack down violently on your own people, throwing hundreds or thousands in jail, or compromise and hold early presidential and parliamentary elections.
Since the shooting option won’t solve anything, early elections seem to be the only way out. Mr. President, you might even win those elections, if the polls are right.
I can’t think of another way out, can you?
I hope the right decision is made before the warm weather brings greater activity on the meaner streets of Kyiv, and before the long-suffering Ukrainian hryvnia – along with the nation’s economy – tumbles further down the cliff.
Kyiv Post chief editor Brian Bonner can be reached at [email protected]
