Translated by Ollie Richardson & Angelina Siard

21:43:28
18/12/2017

ren.tv

Weekly protests in Kiev will accrue and become more and more radical. This was said to the “nsn.fm” by a number of Ukrainian experts.

The Ukrainian political scientist Oleg Soskin considers that if Mikheil Saakashvili, who earlier declared the “peaceful character of protest”, isn’t able to head the becoming more and more radicalised protest, then there will be also other applicants for the role of leader, which there are many of.

“Currently it’s hard to say who exactly it can be. It is necessary to look at the development of the situation. There is Semen Semenchenko, there are different people. There is a need to just wait. But the fact that this movement becomes more and more radical, determined, and already surely nobody’s subject. And Saakashvili is a detonator, a fuse, who was fulfilling his function. Now he will become the leader of the movement – the wave lifts him more and more. And it will wash him away. And if he writes letters to Poroshenko, he will be simply thrown into the bin,” said the political scientist.

Thus the head of the Center for System Analysis and Forecasting Rostislav Ishchenko believes that until the protesters start shooting, one shouldn’t seriously worry, and Saakashvili’s figure doesn’t cause much enthusiasm at all and doesn’t find serious support among Ukrainians. The Georgian-Ukrainian politician has in reality about 200 followers, and majority of them live in Georgia.

“And if to speak about those who participate in demonstrations, they can be in the thousands – like at the moment, and in the tens of thousands. Because it is not about Saakashvili’s supporters, but about Poroshenko’s opponents. Besides he is opposed also by a rather powerful union of oligarchs and the political elite. And they can bring out to the streets so many people, how many are needed,” said Ishchenko.

The day prior Mikheil Saakashvili’s supporters carried out a march for the impeachment of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, and also tried to seize the October palace in the center of Kiev. Police officers used stun grenades and tear gas. As a result, 60 fighters of the National Guard suffered, and victims in the ranks of protesters wasn’t reported. A criminal case was opened after the attack on the palace.

Copyright © 2022. All Rights Reserved.