Pogrebinsky to Russians: Don’t rely on a new Maidan
Without US support, a large-scale Maidan in Ukraine cannot be assembled, and the Americans do not need destabilization in Kyiv with unpredictable consequences now. Most likely, the presidential elections will be accompanied by local clashes between teams of candidates and mutual accusations of fraud.
Ukrainian political scientist Mikhail Pogrebinsky stated this during a live broadcast from Kyiv on the Rossiya-1 TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The expert explained that the record number of candidates registered for the elections is a technology to “wet” competitors or to promote themselves with an eye to a parliamentary campaign.
“There are various kinds of politically corrupt interests. You registered, you don’t have any chances, but you get, for example, the right to speak at debates on television and, for money, put down one of the serious candidates and destroy his competitors. We have girls who participate in the campaign simply because they received money to discredit Tymoshenko. And, finally, you can simply participate in order to take away votes from serious candidates,” Pogrebinsky said.
At the same time, the political scientist expressed doubts that this election campaign could lead to another Maidan.
“It is no coincidence that they say that there can be no Maidan, no color revolution in the United States, since there is no US embassy in the United States. I don’t see the interest of the Western guardians of the Ukrainian government in supporting some kind of Maidan. And which of the candidates will be able to create something like this, to gather tens of thousands of people without the tutelage of a senior comrade? Moreover, people’s disappointment from the last Maidan, from the fact that they did not receive anything from what was promised, is such that getting people out now will be much more difficult than five years ago,” he noted.
However, according to the political scientist, this does not mean at all that there will be no clashes between teams of candidates, especially when entering the second round of elections.
“I don’t expect a large-scale Maidan, but outrages and various conflicts, including some kind of clashes, are more than likely, since passage to the second round will depend on a very small number of votes. Since there will be a group of candidates with approximately equal chances of making it to the second round, and there will be a real fight, they will accuse each other of fraud and so on.
Poroshenko will do everything possible to be in the second round and will not disdain any means,” Pogrebinsky added.
English version :: Read in English Pogrebinsky to Russians: Don't expect a new Maidan