As Ukraine’s anti-government EuroMaidan protests stretch into their third month, attitudes are hardening on both sides of the barricades as major deadlines loom.
Demonstrators are talking about taking more militant actions if law enforcement takes tougher measures to break the standoff on the streets.
Leaders of EuroMaidan Self-Defense and Pravy Sektor, during interviews with the Kyiv Post, pointed to a Feb. 17 deadline set by authorities for complying with a Jan. 29 amnesty law, which says protesters must vacate occupied government buildings and Hrusevskoho Street, where deadly clashes with police took place last month. Protesters still hold Kyiv City Hall, Ukrainian House, the Trade Unions building and October Palace in central Kyiv, as well as several regional government centers in western Ukraine.
If demonstrators don’t vacate, Kyiv Oblast Chief Prosecutor Mikhailo Vityaz warned that they face charges of “serious crimes” punishable by “long terms of imprisonment.”
EuroMaidan activists have countered with their own deadlines. Self-Defense and Pravy Sektor are warning authorities to release jailed protesters by Feb. 17, or face an escalation from their groups.
Also, opposition leaders at a mass rally on Independence Square on Feb. 9 called for a nationwide expansion of Self-Defense, which guards protesters in Kyiv and other cities, while the more militant Pravy Sektor said it was preparing to go on the offensive.
At the same time, the government has pushed forward with prosecutions of those involved in demonstrations, detaining a group of Afghan War veterans. Also, on Feb. 9, the Security Service of Ukraine said law enforcement is on heightened alert because of threats of terrorism, including the possible takeover of government buildings.
While most protesters have been released from detention, they remain under house arrest, said Self-Defense leader Andriy Parubiy. A Kyiv prosecutor’s office spokeswoman said that in the capital alone, 60 protesters who were arrested in January had been released from detention as of Feb. 12.
“It’s true that Maidan is radicalizing, but the reason is that the authorities aren’t carrying out (our) demands,” Parubiy said in an interview in his office at the protester-occupied Trade Unions building. “Every day of delay means a more and more dangerous atmosphere on Maidan.”
Vitali Klitschko, the former world heavyweight champion boxer who now heads the opposition Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform party, blamed the government for the hardening in people’s attitudes.
“Maidan two months ago was a peaceful demonstration,’’ he said in an interview on Feb. 11. “But the government’s actions – foremost, the forceful dispersals, the arrests of protesters, hired goons (titushki) – and the pressure applied by government have radicalized Maidan, and people associate the government only with force.”
On the authorities’ side, a number of organizations in Kharkiv on Feb. 1 set up a citizens’ group called Ukrainian Front to defend the country against “those who come here with invasive plans,” Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported. The group hasn’t been visible among pro-government protesters in Kyiv.
On Feb. 12, other activists, at a round table in Kharkiv, called for creation of an autonomous region in southeast Ukraine. Kharkiv Oblast Governor Mykhailo Dobkin called for a referendum to transform Ukraine into a federation.
In the meantime, Evgeny Zhilin, leader of a Ukrainian Front member group, blamed the EuroMaidan protesters for the crisis. His organization is prepared to use force to uphold the law, he told Hromadske TV.
“I am preparing my people for a possible war,” said Zhilin, whose group, Oplot, is named for a type of tank produced at the Kharkiv factory where his parents worked. “During wartime, the law enforcement system can hardly work. And this chaos is caused by Maidan.”
As Self-Defense seeks to set up an organization in each of Ukraine’s oblasts, Pravy Sektor says it’s focusing on expanding in the east of the country, where President Viktor Yanukovych’s support is strongest. “Yanukovych is most afraid of what happens in the east,” Pravy Sektor coordinator Andriy Tarasenko said.
When asked for examples of what offensive actions the group could initiate, he cited taking over buildings. “But we won’t simply occupy them and be quiet like mice,” Tarasenko added. He would not elaborate.
Pravy Sektor supports an association agreement with the European Union, but not full EU membership, said its leader, Dmytro Yarosh. “After EuroMaidan, Pravy Sektor will have its own place and will offer an alternative path for Ukraine’s future,” Yarosh said. While Pravy Sektor hopes for a peaceful resolution to the crisis, it’s prepared for “violent actions” if necessary.
“Right now we don’t have weapons,” he said, contradicting his comments in an interview with Time magazine earlier this month, when he said the group was stockpiling them. But if the police use firearms, the group has asked “people with legal weapons, guns and rifles, to react appropriately.”
Pravy Sektor seeks to coordinate its actions with other opposition groups, Tarasenko said. The organization works with Self-Defense on security issues related to Independence Square, according to Parubiy.
Tarasenko said that, while several months ago his group feared arrest, the situation has since deteriorated.
“They (the government) don’t put people like us in prison; they kidnap them, they torture them, they shoot them,” he said. “It doesn’t look like we’ll be put in prison. I think now we would be shot dead.”
Kyiv Post editor Christopher J. Miller can be reached at [email protected], and on Twitter at @ChristopherJM. Kyiv Post staff writer Nathaniel Espino can be reached at [email protected].
