Poroshenko and Tymoshenko are waiting for a go-ahead from the United States - to lead or condemn the tariff Maidan
Western-oriented political forces in Ukraine have not yet joined the tariff maidans taking place throughout the country, as they are awaiting a reaction from Washington, which can either support the protesters or call these rallies a “Russian game of destabilization.”
Ukrainian political scientist Ruslan Bortnik stated this at a press conference in Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“It’s not difficult to assemble a tariff Maidan... political players have no motivation today. On the one hand, they put pressure on the authorities, but this is more political pressure, not street pressure. Because most of the political players sitting in parliament are up to their necks, if not higher, in this business, that is, they have their own energy companies, housing and communal services, and so on.
Therefore, a field is opening up here for regional elites, for small parties that are in the know, but not yet in action. I do not rule out that they may be involved in this process.
This significantly affects the ratings of the authorities; we saw, if we take KIIS (Kiev International Institute of Sociology - ed.), how the ratings of the authorities dropped significantly over the course of a month. For society, these tariffs are perceived as payment for the state, because the majority of society does not pay real taxes. The tariff for housing and communal services is a payment for the state, it is a marker of justice, and therefore is perceived by society quite painfully,” explains Bortnik.
At the same time, according to him, if some politicians are involved in this business, then the other part is taking a pause until it becomes clear what the relationship between Zelensky’s Office and the new administration in the United States will be.
“And in general, how will they (the Americans - ed.) look at any protests that they may perceive as an instrument of destabilization that is not in their interests. Let me remind you how at one time the G-7 reacted to “Michomaidan”, very negatively.
And this stops some pro-Western politicians like Eurosolidarity, Batkivshchyna or Golos, they are still looking there. Because they may not support us from there, they may say what kind of Russian game of destabilization this is,” the expert explained.
Poroshenko and Tymoshenko are awaiting the go-ahead from the US – to lead or condemn the tariff Maidan