Is It New Revolution?

UKRAINE - In Brief 24 Nov 2013 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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The exciting bluffing game of Viktor Yanukovicth was interrupted with social outburst which has been aggravating since the stoppage of Euro-integration process was announced.  On that day (November 21st) social nets exploded with comments of people who emotionally reacted to the change in Ukraine’s external policy.  All the comments could be summed up in one phrase - “burn in hell, bloody Yanukovicth!”  Though the disappointment among Ukrainians was huge it was not clear how far people can go to defend their aspirations and dreams.  Activists and politicians called people to protests (so called Euromaidan) but on the first day only few thousand people gathered at the central square of Kyiv (Maidan) to show their disappointment.However, November 24 changed the picture totally.  More than 100 000 people marched through the central streets of Kyiv demonstrating their disagreement with authorities.  Opposition claimed the protest to last till EU Association is signed and first clashes with riot polices has started.  We do not dare to predict how the situation might develop and what might be the consequences of the protests for Viktor Yanukovicth and other political players.  But this force majeure, no doubt, has mixed cards to Yanukovicth in terms negotiating with EU and Russia.As we discussed, in our view, Yanukovitch was trying to make EU and Russia competing for Ukraine. The main target was to get better price for his decision at Vilnius Summit.  He was trying to present himself as ‘poor cousin’ who suffers from pressure from Russia and that should have convinced EU to give him enough cash to survive till elections (and forget about Tymoshenko).  EU and IMF made it clea...