Another Year Of Unrest In Ukraine

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speaks during a news conference in Kyiv on January 14.

Anna Nemtsova, Daily Beast: Ukraine on Fire

Activists are furious at Petro Poroshenko for not tackling corruption—while keeping offshore, tax-dodging accounts.

KIEV — A pile of car tires is a strong symbol in post-revolutionary Ukraine. It is associated with unrest, crowds on the streets, clashes between riot police and protesters and eventually lots of black smoke. This week, piles of tires appeared in front of the Prosecutor’s Office in Odessa and outside the Presidential Administration building in Kiev. On Friday, at about 1 p.m., groups of protesters organized by Automaidan, a civic movement, set the car tires on fire in the center of Kiev.

When the pile burnt down, activists brought new tires. Surrounded by police, protesters, some covered with white powder of a fire extinguisher, demanded that President Petro Poroshenko come out to explain why in spite of all the promises to reform political institutions, the country’s leading positions were still occupied by corrupt bureaucrats. The activists also called for the president to fire a host of unpopular officials. These include Vitaliy Malikov, head of anti-terrorist center at the SBU (Ukraine’s security service), National Guards commanders in Chernivtsy and Vinnitsa regions, as well as all “men of old system,” prosecutors in Odessa, Kharkiv, Zhitomir, Khmelnitskiy, Zaporozhye, and the Nikolayev regions of Ukraine. The president did not show up. Instead, two rows of policemen in shiny black helmets lined up to push the protesters with their burning tires away from the administration building.

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WNU Editor: The focus today is on the resignation of Ukraine Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk .... Ukraine Prime Minister Has Resigned. But after this storm has passed, the focus will shift to Ukraine President Poroshenko. Beset by corruption allegations, an inability to end the conflict in the east, a horrible economy that shows little signs of improving, and poll numbers that are in the low teens .... his only allies now are in the West, and I am sure they are now wondering on how long will he last if this continues.