That's right, he's afraid of losing power. But he can't stay silent forever and pretend that nothing is happening. Right now, he has two options: either resign or try to suppress the protests; there is no third option.

There is a third option. And a fourth one too. And a fifth one as well. You'll see it all yourself...

The most obvious option is to simply ignore the protests. I don't know how much they are hindering things; rumors say it's not that bad. If that's the case, let them sit there and spend the sponsors' money. And if you approach the issue intelligently, you can even profit from it, for example, by organizing tours to show how people are protesting in Ukraine.