Political analyst: All negative consequences of Ukraine entering NATO will be hushed up

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“Ukraine’s cooperation with NATO, on which Yushchenko and Yanukovich have agreed in the Universal, will be carried out with a tripled pace,” senior researcher at the Transdnestr Office of Russia’s National Strategy Council, political analyst Vladimir Bukarsky has told in an interview to a REGNUM correspondent.

“As for the upcoming referendum on joining NATO, in the near future a brain-washing campaign will be launched in Ukraine, during which Ukrainians will be told what a peaceful institution it is, and how important it is to join it. All negative consequences of Ukraine joining NATO will be hushed up. Simultaneously, a myth about ‘threat from Moscow’ and revival of ‘Russian imperialism’ will be imposed. All this will be directed at persuading those who have not had their own opinion about NATO,” the Transdnestr political analyst says.

Vladimir Bukarsky believes that Viktor Yanukovich, after achieving an evident tactic victory, can suffer a destructive strategic failure. “In south-eastern Ukraine, Novorossiya, which has started awakening, Yanukovich will not be treated any longer as a regional leader. He will preserve some part of the electorate as his supporters, and will even acquire a proportion of the hesitating electorate in central Ukraine. However, losing his traditional Russian-speaking electorate in the south-east can become irreplaceable for Yanukovich. At the same time, the situation will give a brilliant chance for such bright pro-Russian opposition leaders like Natalya Vitrenko and Valery Kaurov to establish a new powerful and principal political force, which will be joined by substantial part of the Regions Party members,” Bukarsky says.

In conclusion, speaking on the Transdnestr problem, the expert noted that “the Transdnestr blockade will not be lifted: on the contrary, Yanukovich’s figure and other personalities of the leftist bloc in the government’s leadership and inside will become a kind of legitimization of Transdnestr oppression,” the expert concludes.