It is a well-known fact that officials in Moscow and Western capitals differ in assessing what is happening today in Ukraine. Yesterday, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that "constant attempts to replay unilaterally the approved actions, as well as reluctance to accept the real situation in its entirety, never lead to any good consequences. When NATO begins to consider the situation in Ukraine , it sends a wrong message . And the NATO Secretary General even thought it appropriate to declare that "Ukraine's membership in NATO is not the most urgent priority of the Ukrainian government", that is, the membership is not urgent , but still a priority? They try again to decide for the Ukrainian people."
Meanwhile, experts on both sides sometimes demonstrate similar positions evaluating the situation in Ukraine. So , ANSWER antiwar coalition coordinator Brian Becker, in an interview with The Voice of Russia , said, “Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Ukraine and all of the other former socialist countries that were either inside the USSR, within the union, or allied countries in Eastern and Central Europe, have been targeted for their placement inside what is emerging as a new American/EU/NATO sphere of influence. In the West, in the U.S., Germany and France, in the EU, the opposition is seen as the continued authority of the West . So far it seems that the pendulum has swung towards the opposition. But the U.S. should not take this as a victory. The opposition winning at the moment does not mean that the situation is stable. If they take power over the broad masses, the situation will not be sustainable , because the opposition will not give people the opportunity for a better life. Instead, it will be much worse."
Anna Demchenko, the English version editor of Vestnik Kavkaza, presented her vision of the situation in an interview to the Voice of Russia.
- Do you share the opinion that the political opposition does not seem to have any control or power over what’s happening in the streets?
- There are different people in the Maidan. Some of them are nationalists, and some of them are discontent with the current social and economic situation in the country, and they just want changes in the country, which is currently influenced by the oligarchy which the lost president Yanukovych also belongs to. And this is the cause of the majority of unrest, the majority of violent action. This is the changing point of the situation. We do not know who will control the situation or will be able to control it, but there is hope for a peaceful political resolution of the conflict. The chaos has been initiated by the radical opposition parties, and it won’t be clear whether the authorities will be controlling anything unless they are able to disarm the aggressive armed protesters.
- Let’s look a little bit into the groups that are forming the basis in Ukraine. Most Americans don’t know about them. Can you tell me a little bit about the Svoboda group?
- The Svoboda group is one of the most radical of the acting political groups in Ukraine. It has been represented in official political bodies for some years, despite the fact they make very radical statements which make them one of the most odious of all the political groups of Ukraine. Let’s shed some light on it. The leader of the group, Oleg Tiagnibok, and his right-hand man Miroshnichenko are famous for their anti-Semitic position and are even included on the list of the most atrocious anti-Semites of the world, which was proposed by the Wiesenthal Center. The Association of European Nationalistic Movements have even excluded the party because of chauvinism and anti-Semitism.
Tiagnibok has been introduced to this list because of his calls for repressions against representatives of the Jewish people and other national minorities. And Miroshnichenko once called the famous American actress of Ukrainian decent Mila Kunis a rude name for the Jewish nation.
This party is also known for its radical actions against the Russian language and Russian people. They are separatism-minded and think themselves some kind of defenders of Ukrainian culture and language.
- The protest started up very peacefully, talking about the needs and talking about the state of the economy, and other issues, like corruption, that they were concerned with. And then something changed. Why was there this change?
- The change was partly because the radical parties found some basis in the ongoing events for radical actions. So, Svoboda and the Right Sector began participating in the events actively. There was some accumulation of radical masses that were attracted by the initial events which took place in Kiev. So some radicals started violent actions, and the Berkut had to deal with them, and so the mass violence started. It is not very easy to tell when it started exactly, but it can be known for sure that the majority of people who took part in the protests because of the discontent with economic and social situation, are worried about violent action and will not support them. So the violence is the fault of Western Ukraine separatists and other radicals, who are interested in an escalation of the situation.
- I noticed that your surname is Ukrainian in origin. Do you have family or friends still in Ukraine, and if so, are they OK? How are they doing?
- My family has got many friends in Ukraine, and mostly they live in Eastern Ukraine, which was largely untouched by the protest. They are worried about the situation in Ukraine, but they hope for a peaceful resolution of it. They think that the situation might come to a peaceful end, and bring some positive change in the country, but definitely not by means of any violent action from any of the sides. They hope for a peaceful settlement between the protesters and the authorities.
