Euromaidan could last for a couple of years

Yesterday in Sochi, Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke about the inadmissibility of outside interference in the affairs of Ukraine, while the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry in Kiev opposed the Permanent Mission of the European Parliament on Ukraine. This mission was proposed to implement the EU to assist in resolving the crisis in the country.  "A number of estimates expressed in the resolution of the European Parliament questioned the impartiality and effectiveness of the proposed permanent EP special mission in Ukraine, so the feasibility of establishing it needs further study," the Foreign Ministry commented. Ukrainian diplomats noted the  "unbalanced" nature of the resolution, stating that calls for the introduction of restrictive measures on the part of the EU do not contribute to national reconciliation and an ambience of trust in Ukraine.    

According to Vladimir Bruter, an expert of the International Institute of Humanitarian and Political Research, "in Ukraine there are no political forces that would stand for pure democratic positions, as well as being no political forces which would support pure European values. I think this should be admitted and it is important in assessing the situation."  

Speaking about foreign mediation for the settlement of the situation in Ukraine, Bruter stated, "Unfortunately, the question is deeper than it seems. For sure Ukraine needs no mediators. It would be strange to involve some mediators, when the opposition and President communicate. Do they need witnesses?"  

The expert expressed the opinion that President Yanukovych had better have some clear alternative, "It is important for him to have a clear alternative. He should decide what to do in the very near future, as the situation won't calm down to the full extent because there are no reasons for this. The opposition wants more; the radicals want it all and they want it now. As for the rest of the people, they are boxed in in the current situation. And I think a way out of it won't be found in the near future.

The Maidan, in Mr Bruter's opinion, could last till 2016 or even 2025. "Why not? The Maidan's residents feel at home in the Oktyabrsky Palace, as well as in the Union Culture Center and in the KGA, where the Maidan feels like in paradise. The point is that the situation is unfavorable for Ukraine. The longer it lasts, the more problems the country will have. And the problems are created not by the authorities or the opposition or the radicals. They are created by all of them together, as the country belongs to everybody. The situation should be settled democratically. But it cannot be settled democratically now, as all sides recognize democratic procedures only with significant "ifs."  

The political analyst, chief editor of <<Izvestia in Ukraine>> Yana Sokolovskaya believes that "the Ukrainian democratic feudal system, as it is now called, has come to the stage of development when it is neither democratic nor feudal at all. The way the situation is developing now, it is not internal Ukrainian, it is external. What ex-ex-President Leonid Kuchma feared for Ukraine, came true - it became the buffer zone between Russia and the European Union and the United States. And now there is pressure from both sides, both by politicians and political analysts. From the Russian side we are offered such temptations as cheap gas, loyalty and credits. The West presses without promising anything."  

"People think that they have been deprived of the right to develop like the West, although even if the association with the European Union had been signed, it would in no way have impacted on their freedom of movement and the amount of money they earned abroad, and other things mentioned by rebellious students. Now it is no longer an apolitical students' riot, it is not "Maidan without politics" and without party banners. Now the opposition is trying to manage the situation, leaping at the last, or at the first car of the departing train of the protests. They failed to control, and now a certain new government is being formed by the Maidan itself."