Merkel promises money to Ukrainian opposition

By Vestnik Kavkaza

The European Union is ready to provide a new Ukrainian government with economic aid, according to the head of the parliamentary fraction Batkivshchina, Arseni Yatsenyuk, who is in Germany at the moment. The Ukrainian mass media report that the aid means a loan from the IMF, the EU, or international institutes. “Several figures and approaches were discussed, starting from macrofinancial aid which has already been offered Ukraine, 610 million euro, and finishing with an extension of the aid.” Moreover, during the meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel the leader of the party UDAR Vitaly Klichko asked to ban all suspicious banking transfers by Ukrainian officials.

Moscow hasn’t officially responded to the trip to German by Ukrainian opposition activists, but yesterday Washington was criticized by the Russian Foreign Ministry: “Hiding behind urges not to prevent free choice of the Ukrainian people, the USA tries to impose “the Western vector” of its development as “the only right” way, telling the authorities of an independent country what and how they should do.”

Moscow’s concern is understandable. “The fire is already at the Russian doorstep. Everything that is burning in our Euromaidan is not just an internal Ukrainian, Ukraine-EU, Ukrainian-American showdown,” Vladimir Skachko, chief editor of the online publication "Kiev Telegraph," is sure. “It is a geopolitical game aimed at not allowing Russia to take Ukraine under its economic and political auspices. And everything that happens in Russia, Ukraine, relations between Ukraine and Russia, Europe, the West, the United States is estimated solely on the basis of two principles. First - this is a double standard by which everything that has been done on the Maidan are declared to be, as you remember and know , a peaceful demonstration. The second principle is geopolitical expediency. The events od inhibition of European integration in November 2013 are just a false start of the events that would have to happen in 2015, when there would be a formal pretext for interference in internal affairs. Namely - Yanukovych's election, declaring the results illegitimate, counterfeit, and protest justified by all that. Not all sticks had been brought, not all the militants had not come, not all instructors had located, the base had not been prepared yet, and suddenly this opportunity!”

Skachko is sure that the United States and the European Union in Ukraine operate on the principle - "if we don't catch them, at least we will get warm,” but still “Ukraine is the largest country in Europe after the European part of Russia. What will happen to it? Where will 45 million people go, when they run out, excuse me, of basic products for life? It is an important question, and neither Europe nor Russia will be able to avoid making decisions concerning it. And the USA will be the one who will be completely happy. They will offer their crisis managers, and will require the establishment of an unmanned area.”

Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the Institute of CIS Countries, agrees with Skachko: “The West has made a decision: to overthrow Yanukovych. Initially, at the first phase of the Maidan, they wanted to make him sign the agreement [with the EU], and they want to overthrow. He is facing an alternative: power or money… Now Yanukovych tries to find a compromise between something which is acceptable for Russia and something which is acceptable for the West. However, the West doesn’t accept any compromise or consideration of Russian interests in its activity in Ukraine. The situation is the following: either Yanukovych makes a decision before next week and escapes the soft embraces with well-known consequences and stays in power (and in a couple of years we will be forgiven, like Kerimov) or he is dismissed. He gave away everything except for the presidential position as revised in 2004.”