KIEV, Aug. 14 – Imprisoned Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko’s campaign has opened a Facebook account to coordinate actions among protesters for overthrowing the “criminal regime” of President Viktor Yanukovych, Tymoshenko’s party said in a statement.

Tymoshenko, who has a massive following on Twitter, has turned to Facebook after the authorities resorted to arresting her while she is tried for exceeding power while prime minister in 2009.

“The goal of the Facebook account is unification of all Ukrainian patriots on one single platform in social networks, working out joint positions, coordinating actions aimed at removing from power the criminal regime of Yanukovych and returning the country back towards democracy,” Tymoshenko’s press service reported in a statement.

The move comes as governments across the globe have been looking at explosive potential that Facebook and other popular social networking sites have played in recent violent protests in Britain.

The massive use of social networking websites, such as Facebook, have played a crucial role in promoting social unrest in the Middle East, known as the Arab Spring, earlier this year.

The unrest toppled already several regimes, including in Tunisia, Egypt and led to civil war in Libya that will most likely to lead to deposing of authoritarian Libyan leader Mohamar Ghaddafi.

“Yulia is doing a good job,” blogger Bovari wrote in reaction to Tymoshenko opening the Facebook account. “The revolutions in North Africa have been done through the internet. Yulia understands that.”

Tymoshenko’s account, which is available at https://www.facebook.com/YuliaTymoshenko, has 3,325 people that like it. For comparison, the Front of Changes, an opposition party led by Arseniy Yatseniuk, Ukraine’s second most popular opposition leader, has 104 people that like it.

Tymoshenko has been trying to energize her supporters towards massive protests across Ukraine, but the efforts have failed to trigger the sustainable protest.

Serhiy Sobolev, a senior lawmaker and a member of Tymoshenko’s group in Parliament, said the arrest of Tymoshenko will probably be the trigger that will turn on the massive protests, and may even lead to early Parliamentary elections.

“There will be very serious actions in August and September,” Sobolev said in an interview with the Gazeta po-Ukraynski newspaper. “First, there will be protest rallies. Then the next parliamentary elections may take in the fall, not in October 2012.”

The developments come as governments across the globe have been recently looking at Facebook as a potential threat that could destabilize countries and regions.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday that the government should consider blocking access to social media for people who plot violence or disorder.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, at a summit of the military bloc ODKB, which also includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tadjikistan and Kyrgyzstan, also voiced concerns and urged for measures to be able to control the spread of potentially explosive unrest through social networking sites.

“Technology has empowered all sides in this skirmish: the rioters, the vigilantes, the government and even the ordinary citizens eager to help,” Evgeny Morozov, a visiting scholar at Stanford University and the author of ‘The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom,’ wrote in an opinion piece for the Washington Post. “But it has empowered all of them to different degrees.”

The Ukrainian government, however, seems to go a different way, and has been seeking to use Facebvook to promote its own messages to the people.

Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, who opened his Facebook account on August 2, has a public clash with Tymoshenko at the trial on August 5, the same day Tymoshenko was arrested.

“I will be able to get feedback from you, critical responses,” Azarov said in a video posted on his Facebook account. “I think this is better than just getting regular mail.”

Azarov’s account, available at http://www.facebook.com/Nikolay.Azarov, has 3,489 people that like it, or 164 more than Tymoshenko. (tl/ez)