The Ukrainian government is using the military conflict in Donbass to justify its failures, the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reported.
Such decisions by Kiev as the Transnistria blockade and the appointment of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as Odessa's governor may spark serious foreign and domestic tensions. If the conflict in Transnistria escalates, it may turn into another war in which the Ukrainian government should not be interested. However, Kiev seems to have adopted such provocations as its official strategy, journalist Zita Affentranger wrote.
The Ukrainian government does not care that the so called de-communization policy offends many Ukrainians, especially in the country’s east. Kiev claims its goal is to provide a good example of democracy and freedom, the article says.
The Ukrainian government is not implementing any effective reforms, the author wrote. Instead of addressing actual issues, Kiev prefers to discuss joining the EU and NATO and blames Russia for its own flaws.
Nevertheless, Kiev’s anti-Russian policy is losing support among the people, even in Ukraine’s west. Anti-government and protest sentiments are now on the rise, the newspaper claims: 95 percent of Ukrainians are concerned with economic problems, and 80 percent say that the Maidan coup has not rooted out corruption.
Ordinary Ukrainians want to bring the war to an end, but the powers that be have opposite goals, Tages-Anzeiger wrote. For instance, Ukrainian oligarchs have strengthened their positions using volunteer battalions which can be actually considered private armies. The government is also taking advantage of the military conflict, because reports from the battlefield distract public attention from actual corruption and economic problems, the article reads.
Ukrainians and the country's Western partners are now opening their eyes to see that the so called "revolution of dignity" has changed nothing and the country remains mired in the same range of problems it has always faced, the journalist concludes.
