The reason for their
departures: some activists fear that pro-government forces are infiltrating the
group. The rifts show the divisions that are appearing in the two-month-old
civic uprising designed to force President Viktor Yanukovych from power, partly
because of his abrupt U-turn in foreign policy away from the European Union in
favor of Russia.
“The processes became unclear.
New members that we didn’t vote for appeared. There is more chaos from one side
and some direct influences that I think come from Bankova,” said Natalia
Sokolenko, a journalist and member of NGO Centre UA, explaining
her decision not to take part in the Maidan Civic Council anymore.
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Sokolenko, however, told the
Kyiv Post that she remains hopeful that EuroMaidan activists can stay organized
and develop a united strategy in other ways.
“It
was one of the attempts to unite civil society and I’m sure there will be more,”
Sokolenko said of the Maidan Civil Council. “A great example is a meeting of
EuroMaidans in Kharkiv this weekend or the platform which is being created by the
Democratic Alliance. The brainstorm meetings these days are on developing plan
activities.”
The
Democratic Alliance, a political party whose main goals are to root out
Ukrainian corruption and help the nation become a full-fledged democracy, held
three meetings this month with the purpose of developing a comprehensive
strategy by the end of January.
Vasyl Gatsko, the head of the Democratic Alliance, said the group has three
broad goals to challenge the Yanukovych administration: disrupting corrupt
financial schemes where they exist; ensuring that police and prosecutors
enforce the law fairly; and changing public opinion in the southern and eastern
parts of Ukraine, where the president has the strongest support.
According to Ukrainska Pravda,
Sokolenko and others said the decision to leave the Maidan Civic Council came
after suspicious and ungrounded decisions, leading some to believe that the
council coordinates with “Bankova Street,” where the Presidential
Administration is located.
Sokolenko also added that she
would advise other civic organizations to leave the Maidan Civic Council.
The member of Volya Initiative,
civic activist Yegor Sobolev also said he has decided to end his cooperation
with the Maidan Civic Council, Ukrainska Pravda reports. According to Sobolev: “They
stopped doing anything. They just hold meetings for hours and keep writing
numerous letters.”
Sobolev also condemned the council’s
recent ultimatum to the political opposition that called on three main opposition
leaders to pick a single candidate for presidential elections and block
parliament until its dissolution. “This ultimatum plays into Yanukovych hands,”
Sobolev told Ukrainska Pravda.
Oleksiy Grytsenko, the
organizer of Automaidan, the automobile protests outside top officials’ homes
that are part of the EuroMaidan movement, also said his organization has
nothing to do with the ultimatum. “We never signed this statement,” he said.
Yuriy Lutsenko, the former Ukrainian
interior minister and former political prisoner, also said he thinks the Maidan
Civic Council is going down the wrong path. “I would communicate with all the
organization and parties at Maidan (Independence Square in Kyiv), even if I
didn’t like them, rather than issuing ultimatums,” Lutsenko said, according to
Ukrainska Pravda.
Kyiv Post staff writer Daryna
Shevchenko can be reached at shevchenko@kyivpost.com.
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