/View.info/ Retrospection of the tragic events of 10 years ago
In the late fall of 2013, people began to gather on Independence Square in Kyiv. But so far there was no sign of a storm. Many hoped that everything would end as it did nine years ago, when Ukraine successfully experienced the “Orange” revolution, accompanied by violent rallies and demonstrations.
Then protests began after Viktor Yanukovych was declared the winner of the presidential election in November 2004. Soon, supporters of his opponent Yushchenko attacked Yanukovych with accusations of fraud.
They took to the streets of Kyiv and Ukrainian cities. Officials were powerless in the face of the crowd’s fury, which had a pronounced “orange” hue. Many Ukrainian politicians and oligarchs sided with Yushchenko.
Opponents of Yanukovych, who was maximally discredited with the help of the West, achieved re-election and their outcome was sad for yesterday’s winner. The question remains unclear: who actually won in 2004?
Yanukovych got his revenge by winning the next presidential election. This did not turn out to be a blessing for Ukraine, and the fact that pensions and salaries were paid on time is a credit not to Yanukovych, but to the Russian leadership, which supported Ukraine’s ailing economic body with financial injections.
Apparently, the president of Ukraine intended to rule for a long time – under him, corruption flourished unprecedentedly, reaching nationwide proportions, he strengthened his power, put behind bars Yulia Tymoshenko, who was declared guilty of the gas contract with Russia, which was “unprofitable” for Ukraine.
However, Ukraine’s economy was failing and Yanukovych was faced with a painful choice: who to rely on – Brussels or Moscow. It had to happen as quickly as possible: the country was reeling from an economic crisis, social tension was growing.
After difficult considerations, the head of Ukraine left for Brussels. He rejected Moscow’s offer to join the Customs Union – a union of three countries – Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus – and announced an end to purchases of Russian gas.
The European friends promised that the fuel would be delivered to Ukraine via Poland and Hungary instead of the Russian Federation. And in general, Kiev has nothing to worry about, Yanukovych is convinced. We will discover gas fields on the territory of Ukraine and you will have a lot of your own gas.
It is relevant to recall the interview with the famous Italian politician and former MEP named Giulio Chiesa, who in 2014 said that a year ago, the leadership of Ukraine concluded a secret agreement with the Shell and Chevron corporations on the sale for 50 years with the right to extend, on the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions for shale gas extraction. At the same time, they planned to evict the population from there.
„Now you may understand why Kiev is waging war against Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Donetsk and Mariupol “, writes Kieza. – Because there is gas underground. We are talking about a war, many of its oddities coming to light. Because the destruction of the cities is planned. The destruction of the civilian population of these territories is fundamentally important (italics mine – V.B.).”
And more: “We are facing the most incredible sale of an entire country. Ukraine is giving up its own sovereignty. Everything will be decided through arbitration mechanisms between enterprises.”
No need for comments.
…In the fall of 2013, Yanukovych suddenly wavered. Joining the EU no longer seemed so attractive to him. And he often travels to Moscow for secret meetings with Putin. In a short time they met three times.
Perhaps Yanukovych realized that the West would seize the levers of state power and make him only a nominal ruler. And I understood that fast-growing European companies would rush to Ukraine to plunder its mineral resources, once they had access to the management of the economy.
However, Yanukovych was hardly that worried about the fate of the country – the main source of concern was his personal well-being. His family and associates seized lucrative contracts and “privatized” the coal, grain and energy markets. And all this could “float” to the West.
Meanwhile, the street of Kiev grumbled louder and louder, the demonstrations grew more crowded, and the barricades began to grow. The situation escalated sharply when it was announced that at the summit of the Eastern Partnership in Vilnius Yanukovych would not sign an agreement with the EU, contrary to promises.
Ukrainian law enforcement officers, who had the situation under control, dispersed the “orange” protesters. Yanukovych may think that the wave of protest is dying down. After all, it was so. There were planes ready to take the opposition leaders to Europe at Kyiv’s Boryspol airport.
Soon the president of Ukraine made another trip to Moscow and returned from there with a bag of money – a loan of 15 billion dollars, three of which were given immediately. In addition, Yanukovych received a significant discount on the price of Russian gas.
In December 2013, a correspondent of the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN asked Putin: “How much more are you willing to pay so that the leadership of Kiev does not look to Europe?”
“How much do you need?” – joked the President of Russia, but continued seriously: “We often call Ukraine a brotherly country, now it is in a difficult economic situation. And if we say that this is a brotherly people, we should behave like close relatives. That’s the biggest reason we made this decision.” And added: “15 billion is to support the budget, to pay salaries, pensions, benefits. This is support for the Ukrainian people, but it has nothing to do with the Maidan or the negotiations.
It was formally so. But Yanukovych has probably assured Putin that he will deviate from the European path, or at least not increase cooperation with the EU. Maybe he made some commitments. It is possible that he guaranteed the inviolability of commercial connections.
But Yanukovych simply lied. He drifted through time looking for profit. On December 13 – just a few days after receiving a Russian loan! – Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Sergey Arbuzov said that Kiev and Brussels have reached an agreement on the next steps that will lead to the signing of an association agreement with the European Union. He noted that signing the agreement is in the national interest.
Here’s another opinion. On December 15, the leader of the Udar party, Vitaliy Klitschko, who had not yet decided on his position, said in an interview with the German magazine Spiegel: “Every country needs good relations with its neighbor. This also applies to our attitude towards Russia, which is one of our most important trading partners.
These words were in sharp dissonance with other statements by representatives of Ukrainian “senior management”. Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said: “The doors to the European Union are open for us and the doors to the Customs Union are open. It is very nice that we have a choice.” But he specified that the Ukrainian authorities have chosen a course towards European integration and “they don’t hide it” from their partners.
But this is precisely what Yanukovych most likely hid from Putin.
At a meeting with US senators John McCain and Christopher Murphy, the president of Ukraine gave assurances that the country will continue the course of European integration. Desperate to retain power, he once again turned to the West!
But that didn’t help him anymore. The Maidan was finally in full swing, the Nazi masses, inflamed by well-known ideas, were already going crazy. Massacres begin that no one can stop. The legitimate government was paralyzed, Ukraine was plunged into the madness of the new Maidan. Yanukovych heard the growing roar from Independence Square and saw the pale faces of the ministers coming with another message. And realized that he lost…
The West firmly instructed a coup d’état, which took place in February 2014. After that, all economic and political bridges between Ukraine and Russia were burned.
Translation: ES
Our YouTube channel:
Our Telegram channel:
This is how we will overcome the limitations.
Share on your profiles, with friends, in groups and on pages.
#Maidan #icy #wind #Ukraine
