The local self-government bodies and executive authorities in the southeast of Ukraine announced at a congress yesterday that they would seek broad autonomy including independent tax, fiscal, banking and financial systems in the event of a Yushchenko victory. The participants emphasized the importance of closer ties between the region and Russia.
These radical statements from Mr. Yanukovich's supporters came as a political counterbalance to rallies in Kiev. A Yanukovich victory will lead to chaos in the capital, while a Yushchenko win will all but prompt Ukraine's most densely populated and developed region to part company with Kiev.
Vadim Karasev, the president of Ukraine's Institute of Global Strategies, told Vremya Novostei that it would be inappropriate to exaggerate the possibility that Ukraine could break up. "The recent separatist announcements by the regional authorities are a form of pressure on the central government being exerted to help Mr. Yanukovich retain his firm political positions," said the expert. Besides, these statements can be seen as a game being played by third forces that are trying to depict the election conflict as one between Ukraine's west and east. Statements about a split also provide grounds for President Leonid Kuchma to impose a state of emergency to preserve the country's territorial integrity. "Many hope that this will help end the acts being staged by the opposition forces," said Mr. Karasev. "However, Ukrainian 'influence groups' are hardly interested in the eastern provinces seceding into a Russian protectorate. This would prevent them from playing their own game on the markets of the EU and Russia itself."
