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INTERVIEW WITH DENIS PILASH OF THE LEFT OPPOSITION IN KYIV: UKR-TAZ
by S YRIZA (the Greek "Coalition of the Radical Left") [excerpts]
Question: The European Union has started a game that it is not able to finish. It (EU) couldn't predict the reaction of Moscow?
Pilash: People of Ukraine are trapped between Western and Russian imperialism but Ukrainian elite is itself an enough cynical player at this chessboard. And I'm not sure the EU started this game on its own.
The ousted president Yanukovich, just as president Kuchma a decade ago, hesitated between pro-Westem and pro-Russian orientation, but generally was convenient to both sides (for instance, his legacy includes endorsing Shell for eco-dangerous shale gas drilling in Ukraine). His Party of Regions went on elections with slogans oriented on pro-Russian electorate, but in 2013 his government switched to an official campaign in favor of the free trade / association agreement with the EU. While finances and debt were deteriorating, Ukraine found itself under pressure of both IMF and Kremlin. Its leadership (Yanukovich and prime minister Azarov) canceled the signing of the EU agreement hoping to get money from Russia.
This is the point when the so-called 'Euro-Maidan' protests started. Two decades of brainwashing about the 'paradise in the EU' created in many clusters of Ukrainian society an idealized view of European integration as a solution to all problems (but some support it from a quite pragmatic point - huge amount of unemployed Ukrainians work in the EU). It was paradoxical how protestors, many of whom were driven by rage caused by social injustice and economic inequality, manifested under EU banners while throughout the EU people protesting for similar reasons bum these flags!
However, it seemed like the Euro-Maidan would decline on its own until the government showed itself foolish enough to disperse it with brutal force thus shifting the main message of anti-government protests from enthusiasm for EU association to condemnation of police violence and Yanukovich's arbitrary rule. However, there wasn't some steady 'EU plan' behind the events, and their proposals were rather moderate compared with the final outcome.
And since the protests turned to violent clashes with riot police after the adoption of repressive 16 January laws limiting...