KIEV, Jan. 16 – Interior Minister Anatoliy Mohyliov on Friday warned that “bloodshed” is possible during a massive opposition rally expected to take place in Kiev on January 22.

Mohyliov cited unidentified sources for the information, and said that police are prepared to use force to prevent the worst-case scenario.

“We have the information that on Jan. 22, when the protest rally is scheduled, bloodshed is planned in the city of Kiev,” Mohyliov said while addressing lawmakers in Parliament.

He did not name those behind the alleged plans for the bloodshed, but suggested it had been part of a plan by the opposition groups to discredit President Viktor Yanukovych and his government.

“I am warning you,” Mohyliov said. “We have enough forces and means to make sure that everybody involved will be brought to account.”

The rally will be led by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her allies, who have been suffering from increasing pressure from law enforcement agencies.

Opposition lawmakers denied any plans that would involve any violence, and said the rally is supposed to be peaceful and to show the unity of Ukrainians.

“I am concerned by the minister’s statement about the planned bloodshed in Kiev,” Andriy Shevchenko, a Tymoshenko group lawmaker, told Radio Liberty.

He said the authorities may be preparing a provocation in order to crack down on opposition.

“This should not scare away the people that are planning to show up on January 22 for the rally in Kiev,” Shevchenko said. “This is supposed to be a peaceful rally, a huge peaceful demonstration.

“The provocations can be planned only by the law enforcement,” Andriy Shkil, another lawmaker from the Tymoshenko group, said. “If Mohyliov said it, it means he is preparing it.”

The developments come less than a week after the Czech Republic had granted asylum to Bohdan Danylyshyn, a former economy minister in the government of Tymoshenko, effectively shielding him from alleged political persecution in Ukraine.

The move underscores a rapid deterioration of democracy and freedoms in Ukraine since February 2010, when Yanukovych had won the presidency. He used the post to consolidate his power by changing the constitution, and also by launching a number of criminal cases against his opponents. (tl/ez)