Vigilantes block editorial offices of Russian-oriented TV network

Vigilantes dressed in camouflage and balaklavas
targeted the editorial offices of the NewsOne television network on Dec. 3,
blocking its entrance with more than a hundred sandbags and barbed wire. The
blockade emerged after the network’s owner, MP Yevgeniy Murayev, said that he
considers the 2013-14 EuroMaidan protest as “not a revolution but a government
overthrow” during a political talk show broadcast on Nov. 29. The vigilantes
demanded that Murayev recant his anti-maidan and alleged separatists
statements, as well as hire news anchors that are “patriotic and
pro-Ukrainian,” among other demands.

The NewsOne network asked the president and interior
minister to take necessary action to remove the blockade. Murayev alleged it
was being carried out by radical organizer Dmytro Korchynskiy, who had called
for prohibiting the network’s activity. In response to NewsOne’s request,
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov called upon the protestors to end the blockade,
while at the same time referring to Murayev as “a bastard, a provocateur.”
Numerous MPs and civic leaders, including the head of the National Journalists
Union, spoke in the network’s defense, alleging that freedom of speech was
being restricted in Ukraine by an increasingly authoritarian environment under
the Poroshenko Administration. 

Besides being the network’s owner, Murayev is also the
head of the political council of the For Life party that is projected by polls
to qualify for parliament in the 2019 elections. The For Life party opposes
Ukraine’s membership in NATO, supports renewing economic ties with Russia and
its leaders have proposed federalization of Ukraine, in line with the expressed
goal of the Russian government.

Zenon Zawada: If anything,
Murayev’s bold statement confirms the 2019 election season is underway. It also
offers evidence behind our view that the Russian government will be actively
involved to gain the best result possible for the Russian-oriented parties,
which consist of the For Life party, led by Murayev and Vadim Rabinovich, and
the Opposition Bloc, led by natural gas oligarch Yuriy Boyko. The main message
of these parties will be about how economic conditions have worsened for the
average Ukrainian since the EuroMaidan, and how renewed relations with Russia
will improve them.

The president will have a
difficult time ensuring that the conditions of a liberal democracy, including
freedom of speech and assembly, are maintained in a time of war (that is not
officially declared). We expect the next two years to be extremely chaotic,
with high potential for the political situation spinning out of the
government’s control. We also expect the president to take full advantage of
authoritarian measures to maintain order in those moments. But we expect he
will see the need to employ them more against the pro-Western activists like
Saakashvili, where he sees the bigger threat instead of the Russian-oriented
crowd.