It is to be hoped that Ukraine’s Russian-speaking citizens, having witnessed the economic despair – and sometimes the bloodshed – caused by the Kremlin’s manufactured pro-autonomy movements, will realize that they are being turned into Putin’s pawns. The test for Viktor Yushchenko and his Orange revolutionaries, as it was for Lithuania’s democrats in 1990-91, is to show that democracy does not mean that the majority suppresses any minority.
乌克兰俄语公民都亲眼目睹了由克里姆林宫导演策划支持自治运动以及由此引发的经济萧条和流血冲突，希望他们能够意识到他们正在被普京所利用。维克托·尤申科和他的橙色革命所面临的考验，就像1990-91年立陶宛的民主主义者所面临的一样，表明了民主并非多数压倒少数。立陶宛安然度过了那场考验，我相信维克多·尤申科和他的支持者们也一样能做到。