“The Ukrainian authorities first tried to silence the mouthpieces of the opposition - television channels.
In addition, they began to encroach on the position of the Russian language in the country.
Again, this is happening right under the noses of our Western colleagues, the OSCE, and [its] monitoring mission.
They should speak out on this score and call a spade a spade.
This is an attack on the opposition, ”Polyansky said.
In his opinion, the Ukrainian authorities are "very worried" that the opposition in the country is "gaining strength" against the background of all the actions they have taken.
“But the opposition continues to enjoy support anyway.
Therefore, they want to take more radical measures to prevent the opposition from expressing their concerns and to prevent people from expressing their opinions in other ways, ”the diplomat said.
He stressed that this has nothing to do with democracy.
According to him, there is no democracy in Ukraine, "it is just a beautiful image promoted by Western colleagues."
“I would be very surprised if some other reaction followed from our Western colleagues, different from the words that the party of Mr. Medvedchuk is part of Russian influence - or, as they like to say,“ malicious influence ”- and that they support activities of Ukraine, ”said Polyansky.
The diplomat added that in the situation with Ukraine "there are not double, but triple standards."
Earlier, a court in Kiev sent the head of the political council of the Ukrainian party "Opposition Platform - For Life" Viktor Medvedchuk to house arrest until July 9 inclusive.
The politician himself called the charges against him politically motivated.
On May 11, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine announced that Medvedchuk and his associate Taras Kozak were suspected of high treason and plundering of national resources in Crimea.