Denouement is close... last minute solution search

UKRAINE - In Brief 20 Feb 2014 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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Very strange events are happening at Madian today. At the morning all police forces retreated not only from Maidan but also from the government block they have been defending so fiercely over the last few months. Protesters followed them to some extent inspired by unexpected success. However, now they return to their initial positions since snipers killed at least 15 protesters and rumors say that riot police (so called ‘Berkut’) was armed with machine guns and is waiting for order. Most likely, we just observe a maneuver for stretching Maidan forces. All the events were followed by harsh statement of Dmitriy Medvedev, Russian prime minister, who openly encouraged Yanukovitch to act more decisively. All the steps make us think that full-fledged military actions might unfold already over the upcoming hours. At the same time we see some efforts to find political way out of the crisis. In particular, Andrey Kluev, the Head of president office claimed that Yanukovitch is ready for signing constitutional agreement, a document that will open a political way for reducing president power and will enable revision of constitution. MPs are planning to gather at the parliament over the next few hours to make crucial decisions. Still the tension is so high that these last minute steps might not work. Especially in light that fact that none believes Yanukovitch and his claims for negotiations used to be attempts to stall more time and gather more forces for new assault.