Ukraine between the tours

On the same day, the Government of Ukraine at an extraordinary meeting appointed the dismissed by the First Deputy Minister of the Interior. Thus, he continues to lead the department.

Vladimir Kara-Murza: The Opposition Party faction intends to apply to the court regarding the appointment of Yuri Lutsenko, who was dismissed by parliament from the post of head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, first deputy and acting Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. The parliament of Ukraine on Thursday resigned the Minister of Internal Affairs Lutsenko. The dismissal was initiated by the opposition party of regions. For the resignation of Lutsenko, 231 deputy of the Verkhovna Rada voted from the post of minister with the necessary 226 votes. Two and a half hours after the decision of the Verkhovna Rada, the government gathered for an extraordinary meeting, where Lutsenko adopted back to the service. He became the first deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the acting minister. The vicissitudes of the struggle between the two rounds of the President of Ukraine on the day of the resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs we are discussing with Vladimir Zharikhin, Deputy Director of the Institute of the CIS countries, a member of the Council for National Strategy, Viktor Nebozhenko, Political Science, President of the Ukrainian Barometer sociological center and Ivan Starikov, member of the Bureau of the Federal Political Council of the Solidarity movement, an active supporter "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine. How did the majority that voted for the resignation of Yuri Lutsenko today?

This resignation is now very needed by the Party of Regions, because it neutralizes the police in the election

Viktor Gnyzhenko: I will tell you that for us it was also a big surprise, because still Litvin is not just the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, I am talking about this person, because when the prime minister has the majority, he has the right to turn to the opposition for arguments, for additional votes. But the chairman of the State Duma, the head of the Verkhovna Rada cannot vote along with the opposition minority. But in this case, it so happened that the faction, which was part of the pro -government coalition, completely voted for the resignation of the Minister of the Interior. This resignation is very much needed now by the Party of Regions, because it neutralizes the police in the elections.

Vladimir Kara-Murza: Did you surprise you with the alignment of the forces that has developed today in the Verkhovna Rada?

Vladimir Zharykhin: Firstly, I want to tell our Ukrainian colleague following the example of Ambassador Zurabov: "Healthy Bula, Sound Friend." I will go to the Ukrainian language. Secondly, with regard to the resignation. In general, of course, it is quite a sign, and it is not connected with the fact that the Party of Regions voted for his resignation, but is due to the fact that the situational majority against Yulia Tymoshenko was formed in the Verkhovna Rada, and this is a very serious signal for her before the second round of the presidential election - this is undoubtedly.

Vladimir Kara-Murza: How dangerous is this symptom this signal, which Vladimir Zharikhin said?

I do not think that today's vote, the desire of the Party of Regions and Speaker Litvin has reached any significant goal

Ivan Starikov: Firstly, I want to be happy for the Ukrainian people close to us, that the elections in Ukraine are actually elections and all observers, even Russian admitted that they are responsible for all the standards of democracy. This is the most important achievement of the "Orange Revolution", the fact that the elections remain in Ukraine, there are democratic processes. Regarding today's majority. I am convinced that Yulia Tymoshenko and the loyal Minister of the Interior Yuri Lutsenko could not somehow influence, especially from the security forces, to the current situation between the first and second round. Today in Ukraine it is simply impossible to do. And any attempts by Yulia Tymoshenko to give a team to use force to disperse some rally somewhere in Donetsk would put a cross on any chances for her victory in the second round. Therefore, I do not think that today's vote, the desire of the Party of Regions and Speaker of Litvin has reached any significant goal. It seems to me that, of course, it is unpleasant for Julia, but it seems to me that it gives, oddly enough, to her additional voices. Because, from my point of view, with such a large margin, more than 10%, which Viktor Yanukovych has after the first round, as a man and politician, he should behave, as it seems to me, more subtle and noble. Therefore, I think that today's decision is happy, oddly enough, it can be useful for Yulia Tymoshenko.

Vladimir Kara-Murza: Andrei Ermolaev, Ukrainian political scientist, director of the Kiev Center for Social Research "Sofia", shares claims to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

Andrei Ermolaev: After the first round, serious claims arose to Mr. Lutsenko related to the use of power structures as an administrative resource in favor of the candidate from the authorities. There were a number of cases confirmed by the courts that, unfortunately, the police were involved in the voting procedure, tried to prevent, in particular, in connection with the voting at home. The last straw was the events around the state enterprise "Ukraine". Economic, economic insufficient remains behind the scenes, but the fact that law enforcement agencies allowed the events in the center of the capital that undermined the reputation of the authorities, showed that the authorities could conciliate and even help such clashes. It was the last drop. A certain escalation is a pre -election, associated with the confrontation of the political teams of Yanukovych and Tymoshenko, the party in power and opposition, is preserved. But I think there will be no serious consequences. I only see the danger in the fact that the acting Minister of the Interior will have more unleashed hands, and given the threat of disruption of the elections in the second round, of course, this creates an additional tension.

The full text of the “City of Time” program will appear on the site in the near future.