WASHINGTON, May 14 (RIA Novosti), Lyudmila Chernova – US political analyst James Petras believes the West’s refusal to recognize the May 11 referendums in Donetsk and Luhansk comes from its reluctance to admit that the regime in Kiev doesn’t enjoy the support of its own people.
“The weekend vote was an indication of the democratic sentiments, while the Kiev junta was shown to be a government that does not have the pulse of the people,” Petras, a professor of sociology at Binghamton University, told RIA Novosti Tuesday.
“I think the threat of sanctions to Russia is a misreading of the situation,” he said, adding that the Russian government was not involved in the elections. The professor stressed that Russian President Vladimir Putin had advised the activists not to hold a referendum.
On Monday, the European Union and Canada imposed new sanctions against Russia. Many experts, including Petras, believe they will not have a major impact.
The pundit suggested the West was using sanctions to stall for time for the upcoming presidential election on May 25 that will give a popular verdict on the nature of the Kiev regime.
“I think Washington is very fearful that the regime and its elections will fare badly, and is very desperate to put more pressure on Russia to intervene in Ukraine and to curtail these democratic sentiments,” he explained.
“Everyone agrees that the current government is illegitimate as they seized power in a coup d'état,” the professor said. “All Ukrainian people are appalled by the blood bath that occurred in Odessa. The Kiev regime is discredited and hated not only in the east, but also in the west.”
Petras believes the situation might get more volatile, as there is a possibility that Kiev will try to impose its rule of force and violence.
“It could end up in the civil war,” he said. “It is a failed regime, and the earlier it is recognized, the better. We cannot have totalitarians handling the Ministry of Interior Defense, that’s unacceptable, that ended in World War II.”
The Donetsk and Luhansk regions have declared independence from Ukraine based on the results of referendums held on Sunday. The United States, Canada and Europe have denounced the results of the vote and imposed a fresh batch of sanctions on Russia, which they accused of fomenting unrest in southeastern Ukraine.
