There is no reason to doubt that in Ukraine there is a large group of people who, at least situationally, fulfill the functions of the middle class. A typical example is the Maidan. Actually, the function of preserving stability was wonderfully fulfilled there.
Let me remind you that by 2004, despite Kuchma, a certain relative stability had emerged in the economy. Most small and large entrepreneurs had by then trampled out convenient paths through the thicket of bureaucratic jungle. They carefully tended to these paths, kept them in order, and protected them from raids. Only these paths made any communication with the state possible—and therefore the prosperity and overall existence of their business. And then the carefree Viktor Fedorovych and his merry fellows appeared on the scene. For them, no paths existed at all; they playfully destroyed all the hard work done by a multitude of people and, generally speaking, posed a clear threat to everything alive on earth.
Let us recall that discontent with the “Donetsk people” began significantly earlier than any elections. Well, when the elections came, it became clear that if these people came to power—everything, it’s the end. In other words, it was not Yushchenko, but Yanukovych who was the revolutionary. Yushchenko, as I have written repeatedly, was actually Kuchma-3—the version the press was so willingly discussing at the time.
In general, the middle class managed the function of protecting stability at that time. But with the function of changes—no. Although very many people were primarily interested in changes, and they froze on the square precisely for the sake of them, it didn’t work out. Power was handed over to some completely unrelated people, and then they sat down and began to whine and take offense, saying that they, allegedly, “were deceived.” In general, they didn’t fare well with this function.