Maidan: Continued

Protesters in Kyiv are preparing for the worse

Viktor Yanukovych is going to the next meeting with the Moscow counterpart. Bots in the Ukrainian political game are growing, and protesters in Kyiv, just in case, are preparing for the worst

Field kitchen on the Maidan. Kyiv, December 12, 2013

On the night of December 10 to 11, US Secretary of State Victoria Nuland woke the phone - the call was nasty, frightening, piercing, as always, when he suddenly calls at a completely crop failure. At the other end, Nuland heard the clearly annoyed voice of her main boss:

“Tori, this is John Kerry.” Turn on the CIN-EN.

- What's happened?!

- I say: turn on the TV, immediately!

The Secretary of State hardly hid irritation. Nuland grabbed a remote control from the TV and fiddled with him for a long time in search of the famous news channel. And when I found it, the dream was removed: on the screen there was already an incorrectly recognizable square in the center of Kyiv - the Maidan, banned by hundreds, if not thousands of Berkut fighters, special units to combat street riots. In complete ammunition, all in black, in brilliant black helmets with lowered rackets, tightly closed rows, they slowly advancing on demonstrators who remained to carry a night shift on the Maidan, obviously intending to squeeze out all the protesters from the main area of ​​Ukraine to one.

Live’s catchy inscription left no doubt: all this is happening now, live. This was the only and main news from peacefully sleeping Europe - and in Washington there was the time of the main evening information issues, and the first news was night events in Kyiv, where at that moment was Nuland.

Nuland already came from surprise and indignation. Only a few hours ago, at a meeting with the Ukrainian president, she received - not the first time - assurances: no, the authorities will not force people on the Maidan and will begin negotiations with the opposition to leave the current political crisis.

“Tori, what does all this mean?!” - the Secretary of State continued to insist. “You just reported me that you agreed on everything with Yanukovych and the opposition?!” That everything will end peacefully, without blood?! This is called the "Round Table"?!

“It seems that we were deceived again,” Nuland said bewildered.

- Ok, I will not leave it like that! I will now speak with a statement - no one will seem to no one! - promised the angry Kerry. - You call, demand an explanation, and in the morning, if it is possible, you should defiantly appear on this very Maidan ...

Everything written above was the fruit of the fantasy of the author of these lines, which, of course, could not hear the night conversation of the assistant Secretary of State with its Washington authorities. But the author honestly tried to reconstruct it. I am sure: Mizanscen was something like this.

"Golden Eagle" went ...

To be honest: at least four different prominent figures of the Ukrainian opposition told the author - each separately - that it was he who woke up the Messenger from Washington with a telephone call, and in general that night he steamed the State Department almost instead of Obama himself. But how can you not understand the leaders of the next Ukrainian revolution - on such days you need to pilot your place in history, boldly forge revolutionary mythology while the iron is hot. Being in fact, one thing is clear: international diplomacy on that night joined the case immediately and played almost a decisive role in what happened next.

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The famous Ukrainian singer Ruslan: “This is a peaceful protest! Do not follow a criminal order! "

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That night, the call of the Kyiv colleague also raised me from the bed: Golden Eagle went to the Maidan. ” After that, I stuck to the TV for many hours, watching the drama unfolding before my eyes. The special forces ring was shrinking tightly around the scene built on the Maidan, where there were very few people with frosty night. It seemed that they were about to take her storm. It was scary. It is especially scary that the famous Ukrainian singer Ruslan spoke from the stage, without silent, addressing the special forces: “This is a peaceful protest! You violate the law! Stop the criminal order! " The priests who stood there, on the stage, read prayers loudly, and then suddenly everything - and those that are at the stage, and those that below, at the foot, in the square, surrounded by “Berkuta”, are literally eyes in the eyes - the national anthem sung in chorus: the national anthem:

Shche did not die of Ukrainian, I will, I will,

Shchen to us, brother young, the share of it ...

At some point, they hit the alarm of the bells of the Mikhailovsky Golden-Fire Monastery, as if in the Middle Ages. I immediately recalled stories about the schismatics-old-breeds who burned alive with the singing of psalms in the walled monastery, but they didn’t renounce their faith ... And at the same time it was cold, purely professionally thought: what a fantastic “picture”! And after all, all the television channels of the world show it: in America now, the very prime time is now, but Europe is sleeping, there are no other hot news, this will be given among the first, the most important. And how did they just think of arranging a new force action, I thought when the head of the EU foreign policy Katherine Ashton and assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland are still in Kyiv?! Her Washington bosses are probably running on the ceiling now ...

And on the Maidan, Ruslan’s hoarse voice torn again - she did not stop all night, until the morning! Meanwhile, the special forces squeezed his ominous black ring. And people sang again: “Shche did not die of Ukraine ...” And it seemed that it was about to end tragically.

Protesters are preparing for the assault on the Maidan "Golden Eagle". Kyiv, December 10, 2013

We reached, stopped ...

In fact, those who were at that moment on the Maidan say that everything was not as scary as it seemed on the TV screen. Special forces, they say, behaved quite restrained - not at all like on the night of November 30 - this time he only replaced people from the square. Moreover, on TV, it seemed that the “Golden Eagle” was about to start storming the scene, and nearby eyewitnesses, it was clear that no assault was planned. Special forces reached the intended line and stopped. However, some eyewitnesses claim that some person in civilian clothes, clearly led the actions of the Berkut, rushed around the square, called someone, demanded an order to go forward. But there was no order.

Meanwhile, the alarming report on the accompaniment of the living sound of the bells again woke Kiev residents, and in the middle of the night they reached for the Maidan. More and more they arrived. Many in orange construction helmets - in case the special forces launch rubber batons. Fortunately, the fighters did not have batons this time.

The mood in the square began to change. The day before, many did not believe that the Maidan would last long. Skepsis increased. Pessimistic forecasts sounded: they say, President Yanukovych quite correctly chose expectant tactics, another day or two-and the protest will exhale. Perhaps the initiators of the force action themselves believed - and lost. And when the metro earned in the morning, the balance of power was no longer in favor of Berkut ...

In the morning, Victoria Nuland appeared on the square, accompanied by an American ambassador, defiantly distributing hot tea and sandwiches to the defenders of Maidan. The Americans were clearly annoyed by everything that happened. Secretary of State John Kerry really made an unprecedentedly tough statement, in which the word “disgust” was completely unheard of in diplomatic practice. The veteran of American diplomacy, deputy adviser to the US President for National Security in the administration of George Bush Jr. Elliott Abrams wrote on his blog: I have been dealing with the State Department for 35 years, but I do not remember that his head used to use a similar vocabular.

It seems that this had an action: at 9 All to one. According to the author of these lines, the president himself gave the team. Maidan did not know about this, but still triumphed the victory.

The Kremlin crests tougher

Then everyone racked their heads, who and why arranged a night output of special forces at a completely inopportune moment, clearly risking to finally destroy the remnants of confidence between the authorities, the opposition and the leaders of the West. And did President Yanukovych give all this?

I’m afraid, by Monday, when this issue of the magazine comes out, the answers to these questions will be interested in only the historians of our time. Because the situation around Ukraine is developing rapidly: a new series of tough statements and unprecedented western politicians followed.

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"All decisions in Kyiv are now making only two people - Yanukovych and the head of the National Security and Defense Council of Klyuyev"

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For example, the head of the Pentagon called the Minister of Defense of Ukraine and warned him from using the Ukrainian armed forces to suppress civil protests - I will not remember anything like this in the past! In favor of the peaceful settlement of the crisis, the largest Ukrainian oligarchs began to speak publicly, including the richest of them - Rinat Akhmetov. President Yanukovych agreed to a round table with the opposition, and the first meeting has already taken place (see material on page 13). But this, I repeat, happened on Friday. And for Saturday and Sunday, the situation could change again, especially since the power, how persistent rumors go, was going to gather in Kyiv a hundred -thousand Anti -Maidan in Kiev. And provoke clashes with supporters of the opposition, in order to create an excuse to take strict measures, up to the detention of protest leaders and the introduction of emergency.

The most interesting thing is what will happen in the nearest Tuesday, December 17, in Moscow at a meeting at the top between Putin and Yanukovych. There is information that the Kremlin put forward a new condition: no urgent economic assistance, no discounts from the price of gas, no other steps towards Yanukovych if he does not take control.

What will President Yanukovych do next if he suddenly does not receive billions of Russian loans and loans allegedly promised to him for abandoning the Association with the EU? And what will happen to the country?

PS

Again, on Monday morning, compose an afterword for the New Times online version-too important things happened again over the past weekend. I mean not even another grand demonstration on the Maidan. The fact that on Sunday to the streets of Kyiv again hundreds of thousands of supporters of the European choice for Ukraine would come out quite predictably - after an unsuccessful force action on December 11, Maidan gained a second wind. The fact that the anti-Maidan, organized by supporters of the party in power, will also be very numerous, but it will have a duty, state-owned, tortured look is also expected-well, it is impossible in any way with the help of people mobilized in the good old Soviet “voluntary-compulsory” order, to reproduce the atmosphere of civil recovery, which is distinguished by the opposition Maidan. The fact that no clashes between the participants of the two Maidans will happen that no “hawks” from the presidential environment will try to provoke riots in order to apply force again, it became clear after the Politically most important event of the past weekend occurred on Saturday. The Prosecutor General of Ukraine named the names of four people who are suspected of violating the rights of citizens and excess power during the brutal dispersal of the “student” Maidan on the night of November 30. Among them are two leaders of the Kyiv police, which was expected by two high -ranking politicians, which became a sensation. This is, firstly, the Kiev mayor Alexander Popov (in the Russian media he is mistakenly called the mayor, although he is only the appointed head of the city administration, that is, the metropolitan government, the elected position of the Kyiv mayor is already vacant, only the elections will not take place-why, a separate topic). Secondly, this is the deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Vladimir Sivkovich. As soon as the Prosecutor General announced his decision to start an investigation against these two politicians, President Yanukovych immediately signed a decree on their deposit from office.

It is likely that the authorities here again made a difficult mistake. Why? Yes, because all four are both policemen, and both politicians, no matter what high -ranking they were, in the story with the night overclocking of the Maidan, nevertheless played the role of performers. Only the lazy did not hear that they received the teams from even higher bosses, and in this regard, the names of the Minister of Internal Affairs Vitaly Zakharchenko and the head of the National Security and Defense Council Andrei Klyuyev had already flashed in the media. But these two are people especially close to the president. Zakharchenko is considered a member of the so -called “family” clan, a group of businessmen and officials associated with Yanukovych’s eldest son, and Klyuyev for many years was one of the most proofs of the president. Viktor Yanukovych, apparently, did not understand the “passing” such untouchable personnel. Or maybe it didn’t even occur to it. “Passed” the figures with a lower rank. But at the same time, they involuntarily sent the whole elite a very unpleasant signal: this can happen with everyone. And now every official, before fulfilling some sensitive assignment of the high authorities, will think ten times whether he does not risk, as a result, like Sivkovich with Popov, to fall under the investigation and certainly break his career. Especially alarmed by the bureaucrated story with Sivkovich - the head of the National Security and Defense Council of a person was closer and devoted, and still he was not spared. Now, a frightened murmur crawled along the corridors of the authorities: since they are the most faithful, then what should we count on?! Who after that decides to take responsibility for some other acceleration of the demonstrators or some other unpopular-even if it is quite legal-action?! But, I repeat, I won’t be surprised if it turns out that they didn’t even think about anything like that. The president and his closest environment for the last month, while Ukraine has entered into the political crisis lane, is made with enviable regularity of clearly erroneous decisions, each of which over and over again raises the task of leaving the crisis of the Nano level of complexity. Now, it seems, to less than the resignation of the entire government, the opposition will not agree. But until recently it was possible to get rid of the dismissal of one minister. However, it seems that President Yanukovych does not think so. This happens with autocrats-a politician inclined to the authoritarian style of leadership, to whom subordinates are afraid to object, are afraid to predict some unpleasant, uncomfortable information, often loses contact with reality, ceases to see the real picture of what is happening in the country and the world. With all the ensuing consequences, up to the loss of power.

Continuation of the topic - in the material "Round table with angles"

Photo: Alexey Kudenko/RIA Novosti, Maxim Nikitin/ITAR-TASS