Andrii KLYMENKO, head of the Tavriisky Institute for Regional Development (Yalta), editor-in-chief of the web portal blackseanews.net:
“As for me, one of the positive things of this period is that it has proved a very interesting tendency that Ukraine repeatedly demonstrates: regardless of the slogans declared by the politicians willing to come to power, especially concerning our relations with the neighboring countries, when they come to power, sooner or later, they assume the attitude that more or less coincides with the national interests of Ukraine. When the current president and his party campaigned, everybody repeatedly said about Yanukovych’s pro-Russian moods, however, today his attitude is absolutely different than the one declared during his election campaign. It means that Ukraine makes any politicians and any political forces be Ukrainian. However, directing Ukraine towards the technological modernization turned out to be very difficult. There are declarations, the life makes us going this way but the situation is so much complicated that not everything can be done. The boring slogan ‘improving life today’ declared two years ago when the global economic crisis started and his consequences accumulated was a mistake. Both those who declared it and the then presidential candidate realized that the life could not have been improved in the situation when it was getting worse all over the world. Doing the splits between the slogan that everyone remembered well and the objective reality is one of the biggest problems of President Viktor Yanukovych and his political force.”
Vadym KARASIOV, director of the Institute of Global Strategies:
“Instead of the European integration we have the post-Soviet degradation. For two years Yanukovych has been trying to dismantle the democratic system and introduce the regime of his personal power but his attempt has failed. The democracy in Ukraine proved to be stronger. Now Ukraine is suspended between the authoritarianism and democracy. The result of this really historical battle between the authoritarian and democratic forces will be the parliamentary election of 2012.”
Volodymyr LUPATSII, director of the Center for Social Studies:
“The technocratic reform model has to be corrected.”
Oksana MYKHEIEVA, candidate in history, associate professor at the department of sociology, Donetsk State University of Management:
“I would speak about three years and not two. I had my son, studied at the center of doctoral training for three years, now I am finishing my doctoral thesis and I am going to defend it. For me these were normal working years. I do not want to stick to the political events since as a specialist I think that the political context of the Ukrainian independence has not changed since it was declared in 1991. I cannot see any substantial changes in the country; it does not depend on those who rule the country now.”
Vitalii BALA, director of the Situations Modeling Agency:
“I think these two years are significant enough to understand if we are going to be a presidential republic. At the end of the day, after President Yanukovych was inaugurated he has done a lot of things that would have been enough for all his presidential term. It allows coming up with a conclusion that he has remained the presidential candidate for all these two years. He made a lot of declarations, just as he did during his election campaign but he did not realize any of promises.”
