Ukrainian Party of Regions anticipates confrontation to worsen on Wednesday, says MP
Kyiv, January 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ukrainian Party of Regions anticipates that confrontation between the opposition and the government forces could worsen on January 22, when Ukraine celebrates Unity Day.
"The conflict's escalation is expected by the [January] 22nd," Vadym Kolesnichenko, a Party of Regions member of the Verkhovna Rada, said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine office on Tuesday.
Fighters are being actively trained to this end, Kolesnichenko said. "We know clearly and unambiguously [about the training of fighters], and people who have been expelled from here, experts in hand-to-hand fighting in city conditions and psychologists were responsible for this. We have over one thousand fighters now who are being actively treated by psychologists, active work with them is under way, they've been confined to barracks in seized buildings all day long to prepare mass unrest and act efficiently against the law enforcement. This is what we need to know and understand clearly," he said.
The purpose of the recent clashes between protesters and security forces on Hrushevsky Street was to provoke the law enforcement into forcibly quashing the protest to draw a negative response from the international community, he said.
"Independent experts who know something about the matter have already concluded: the group of young thugs didn't plan a breakthrough or the seizure of the Cabinet of Ministers building, as they lacked the forces for that at the time. This was a well-planned action prepared beforehand to provoke the police into resorting to an appropriate response," Kolesnichenko said.
"Thanks to the fact that such events were anticipated, police just defended passively. We understand that the authorities did everything very wisely. The goal was to find out what the authorities were ready for, and, what counts most, so-called international resistance was being prepared in response to the authorities' beating the so-called peaceful demonstrators. The authorities did everything perfectly," he said.
Vitaliy Hrushevsky, another Party of Regions parliamentarian, suggested that the opposition leaders should "curb their emotions and switch from a monologue to a dialogue."
He said he was ready to meet with the participants in the ongoing opposition protests in Kyiv, known as Euro-Maidan, on January 22 to explain the government's position to them. "I am prepared, as a people's deputy, to step forward and speak to the people. I am personally asking for the floor," he said.
Vitaliy Hrushevsky said also that he would initiate parliamentary hearings on ways to settle the confrontation and urged the opposition leaders to take part in them.