Ukraine authorities continue pressure on EuroMaidan protesters

Ukrainian traffic inspection officers have begun visiting the homes of EuroMaidan protesters who held an automobile protest on Dec. 29 at the Mezhyhiria suburban estate of President Viktor Yanukovych. The traffic officers request documents on automobile ownership and invite the protesters for interviews, citing their possible refusal to have obeyed their command to stop during the protests. Vasyl Hatsko, the head of the Democratic Alliance political party and among the EuroMaidan’s most active leaders, reported on Jan. 2 that he’s being followed by law enforcement authorities, recording them on a video he posted. Another EuroMaidan leader, Dmytro Pylypets, reported being followed before suffering a knife attack on Dec. 24.

Ukraine’s biggest oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov, confronted protesters near his Donetsk estate on Dec. 31 who voiced their condemnation of his support for the Party of Regions of Ukraine. He criticized a protest leader for spreading the falsehood that he wouldn’t address the protest because he was in London at the time. He said he was intimidating by threats of sanctions. “For me, the biggest sanction is when I won’t be able to walk in my own homeland, my Donetsk land,” he told the protesters. He avoided answering their questions before driving away.

The EuroMaidan is renewing European countries’ faith in the importance of the European Union (EU), Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said in a Jan. 2 television interview. “I have the hope that this is a mirror for the western European members of the European family, which will see how important the EU project is and thanks to the Ukrainians will renew their faith in the project, which is exceptionally important for Europe, and particularly Poland.” The EU has strongly re-evaluated the attractiveness of its Association Agreement proposal and didn’t assess just how important Ukraine is for Russia, particularly the large sums it’s ready to invest, Sikorski said.

Zenon Zawada: The events surrounding New Year’s day offer a preview of what to expect this year: increased political repressions by the Yanukovych administration against the opposition, which will continue its EuroMaidan protest. Efforts will also continue to ask Western governments to impose some form of punishment against the Yanukovych administration. Akhmetov seemed particularly disturbed by the threat of Western sanctions, despite his denials, indicating the potential for their effectiveness in forcing the Ukrainian government to take responsibility for its crimes against peaceful protesters on Nov. 30, Dec. 1 and Dec. 11.