Egyptian-style unrest possible if Ukraine fails to expand freedoms, politicians say

Two members of the Ukrainian Parliament warned Thursday that Egyptian-style demonstrations could break out in their country if the government continues to limit the freedom of the people.

"It could happen this spring or next spring or later," MP Volodmyr Ariev said. The "level of life in Ukraine is going down and down," he said at a the National Press Club Newsmaker.

MP Andriy Shevchenko, author of a new Freedom of Information law, said to avoid popular unrest, the government needs to give Ukrainians more freedom.

Public pressure forced President Viktor Yanukovych to sign the media freedom law, Shevchenko said.

Earlier that day, the Ukrainian News Agency broke news Ariev had demanded an investigation into what he said was a fake electronic voting card used to make it appear he voted for amendments to the constitution that would set terms for the next parliamentary election. He said he was in the air headed to America at the time. "I have my voting card with me," he said at the Newsmaker.

He and Shevchenko were part of a delegation that included a third member of Parliament, Oles Donty, and Oleh Rybachuk, initiator of the New Citizen Campaign. It also included Kateryna Levchenko, a former member of Parliament now active in the International Women's Rights Center, "La Strada-Ukraine." She deplored the government's human-rights record and said it has violated the law ensuring "the right of public assembly."

Rybachuk called on the Ukrainian government to engage with civil society. "We are not happy with the quality of dialogue," he said. But he said the efforts of civil society to improve that dialogue "has attracted the attention of Ukraine and the American government ... we want the active participation of civil society and to form a partnership with the U.S.'

The delegation also included Okena Gromnytska, Editor-in-Chief of the magazine, "Profile," and two staff members of "TVI" TV, Mykola Kniazhytsky and Vitaly Pornlkov.

Shevchenko said the delegation was here to forge links with members of Congress, the State Department and the White House. He said they were heading to Vice President Joe Biden's office to meet with members of his staff after the Newsmaker ended.

-- Robert E. Webb, [email protected]