Ukraine tarred with same brush as Belarus..

From the influential 'Frankfurter Rundschau' - analytic article entitled 'Putinism in Kyiv'

[Here's the conclusion ..via Google-translate]

The EU must not be lulled by Yanukovich's Europe-friendly rhetoric, it must make pressure. For liberalization of visa regulations such as Brussels should make a return to the reform process to the condition. Freedom to travel against press freedom. The EU summit in May, will go where it focuses on the Eastern Partnership, could be a good time for it. It also provides the Member States an opportunity to strengthen bilateral relations with Ukraine in order to create further incentives for reform.

Later this month, EU foreign ministers will meet to discuss possible sanctions against Belarus's Lukashenko in power. It is right to show the dictator the red card. The EU should also not only lose sight of the fact that Kiev just turned into a second Minsk.

The whole article is worth reading.. If the Yanukovych-led administration continues on its current path, Ukraine and Belarus.. will ever-more frequently be tagged together as 'problem countries'..

Also this interview in the same newspaper by Ukrainian writer, Yuriy Andrukhovych. Below is an excerpt, again, Google-translated..]

Ukraine is for many in Western Europe, a terra incognita. Where you locate your country?

Politically, Ukraine is today no European country. We're back somewhere inEurasia . The prospects are poor. The leaders repeat the mantra of European integration, but in reality they do something completely different.The EU wants Ukraine to not break the bridges. But they should use the rhetoric of the ruling group to exert pressure. Actually, the EU would have with Ukraine is the approach as with Belarus.

Yanukovich is the one you conjured up in 2003 Ukrainian Putin, Ukraine will "stabilize" the Russian model?

Putin is smart, smart, athletic, sexy. Yanukovych is a parody of Putin. But he wants the ideas of the vertical power of the so-called sovereign democracy and copy. Freedom of speech exists in Russia only on the web. The judiciary is completely brought into line already.

What has changed since the takeover of the "Blue" in early 2010?

Sometimes I feel like I was in another country. Maybe I'm paranoid, but my city of Ivano-Frankivsk I feel sad and dirtier than a year ago. I am a witness of disintegration. The government is increasingly cynical and corrupt. The pressure, in conjunction with the local elections, local election commission was exerted on, was massive. I fear that Ukraine is on its way to becoming a "failed state" to be who can not fulfill its functions.

Were you surprised by the speed of restoration?

Yes, I am with a regime à la Kuchma (controversial President of Ukraine from 1994 to 2005, note) had expected. But it was worse. Yanukovych and his supporters have no connection to Ukraine. The country is only a tool for them to get even richer and more powerful. I was also surprised the massive attacks on the Ukrainian culture, language and identity. The pressure on local authorities is enormous, which means brutal.

But Yanukovych is, after all democratically elected president.

Really dangerous is it when characters who have come to power democratically undermine, democracy. You want to secure their power forever by allowing free elections in the future no more. A political analyst said it: in the past were thieves and rogues in power, now it's killer. The only hope is that the rulers of the Western perspective is important. They have bank accounts in the West and do holiday in Sardinia. Since the pressure would start.

Could a radical step, its about the connection of the eastern Ukraine to Russia, a solution to the current division of the country?

I have a few months in this direction expressed before and I was massively attacked. But such is the reality: Without the Donbass and Crimea regions had 38 percent of the vote and Yanukovych Tymoshenko percent received 55th But the territorial integrity of Ukraine is a sacred cow. My critics say I am for an independent Wales, for any Kuk-protected areas. This is absurd.Galicia itself makes no sense. It belongs to the large Ukraine. But the great Ukraine today is too large...