The "EuroMaidan" (protests against Ukraine's decision to halt association with the EU) has given Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych an additional argument for negotiations with the EU and Russia, Director of the Ukrainian Policy Institute Kost Bondarenko has said.

"… Yanukovych has been given an additional argument in negotiations with Russia and the European Union," Bondarenko told Interfax-Ukraine on Monday, when asked whether the government's position towards the signing of an association agreement with the EU could change under the pressure of the EuroMaidan.

"The fact that thousands of people took to the streets is an indicator, to which Yanukovych can refer in his negotiations with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, when Putin is trying to direct Ukraine further to the position of diktat. Yanukovych can convincingly demonstrate to the European Union that the EU is now negotiating with Ukraine, which demonstrated its position, rather than with Yanukovych."

He said that "following the first day [of protests] it is very difficult to make any predictions, because actually nobody gained and nobody lost anything in this situation. It cannot be said that the opposition received strong positions, or that the government lost these positions."

Bondarenko said that the only thing on which it is possible to focus "is that residents of Kyiv still took to the streets and residents of Kyiv still showed their awareness, of which many people doubted, including me. They proclaimed that Ukraine is not Russia and not Moscow, and this was much more organized than on Bolotnaya [Square in Moscow]."

He said that "it was a self-organized process, with a minimum participation of the opposition."

He also noted that "the opposition, of course, wanted to lead this process, jump on a train that departed, but people actually demonstrated that they are currently ready for a civil, rather than political protest."