Motyl: Yanukovych could divide and destroy Ukraine

Published May 28, 2013 at 9:01 am

Start with the president’s overriding strategic interest: survival by reelection. Back in 2010, when he was elected, it was power and wealth. Now, after imprisoning opposition leaders, closing down the free press, and otherwise delegitimizing himself, Viktor Yanukovych wants only one thing: to be reelected in 2015. Not because he has plans for the country. But because he has plans for himself: he knows that the alternative to power is exile or, more likely, jail.

Continue with the fact that the only way Yanukovych can induce
anybody to vote for him is by polarizing society. Conclude with the fact
that, even if Ukrainian society is transformed into two hostile camps
on the brink of civil war, there is still no way that a leader as bad as
Yanukovych could ever get elected in a free and fair election. Fraud is
therefore inevitable, and a violent crackdown in the aftermath of
defeat or mass protest becomes the inevitable Plan B.

Read the story here.