By protesting, Ukrainians can force the government to cancel the decision to raise prices

Today, the Ukrainian government system is aimed at putting maximum pressure on activists who hold social protests. These people are regularly searched and intimidated.

This opinion was expressed by Viktor Medvid, director of the William invest expert consulting company, during a press conference at the GolosUA news agency.

The interests of protecting people in our country are being reduced to nothing, the expert said.

"There will always be price increases in Ukraine. The issue is that the principle of increasing the cost of goods and services, price growth should be proportional to the income of the population. First of all, this applies to socially vulnerable groups. This principle is not observed in Ukraine," Mr. Medved emphasized.

According to the expert, the principle of adjusting price increases is wrong. Prices do not rise smoothly, but in jerks - by 50% or 100% at once. This has a significant and serious impact on the poor. People have to go through this shock every time. In fact, all this leads to a shift in the standard of living of Ukrainians to the poverty level. People cannot provide themselves with a minimum level of income. As a result, people will deny themselves everything, switch from more expensive food to cheaper ones, from natural clothes to artificial ones.

"Until 2014, Ukrainians could afford to go out to eat. Now people buy Mivina. "Mivina is an indicator of the population's ability to pay. Today, consumption of Mivina is growing. Even in the center of Kyiv, schoolchildren are sitting near Silpo and eating this Mivina. The government needs to pursue a policy focused on the interests of the population. Our country is wealthy, but officials forget about the population and think about the difficult socio-economic situation of Ukrainians only before the elections," Medved said.

According to the expert, the authorities are taking advantage of the fact that there is a lack of trust in the institution of public protest, and the effect of protest is now being leveled, and this is being used by the authorities at all levels. Citizens of our country are pessimistic, there are no rallies and protests at the moment, even though the government intends to double the price of public transportation. People forget that picketing and protests can help to overturn many decisions, and officials can reverse the decision to raise prices just as easily as they made it.

V. Medved added that the system represses social protest activists as much as possible, and their homes are regularly searched. People are being intimidated. Since our people are pessimistic, the authorities ignore them altogether, while the degree of radical sentiment in the country is increasing.