The leader of the "DPR" Alexander Zakharchenko is clearly "tormented by vague doubts". In an interview with the Moscow "Izvestiya" he said that the "DPR" is "ready to conduct a dialogue with Ukraine only on the basis of equality, as an independent state", and immediately admitted that "we are ready to negotiate with Kyiv about the coexistence on a confederal basis". He acknowledged that "the war will sooner or later end with negotiations on the principles of a coexistence with Ukraine", because "you cannot abolish geography", and then immediately threatened Kyiv with a new war. And then he again assured of the readiness for the negotiations...
"The longstanding aspiration of Kyiv..."
The end of last week was darkened by the tragic death of a US doctor, a member of the OSCE special monitoring mission in the Donbass. The vehicle of the mission was blown up by a land mine. Another two SMM members – citizens of Germany and the Czech Republic – were hospitalized with wounds. The incident occurred on the territory occupied by the LPR militants, and therefore, almost immediately they hastened to state that, firstly, the SMM car "deviated from the main route", and secondly, the road mine was laid by "Ukrainian sabotage group". The invaders actually gave it away what they fear most after this incident – the entry of UN peacekeepers to Donbass...
The pro-Kremlin newspaper Vzglyad, reporting general information about the incident, reduces the meaning of its message to blaming the OSCE SMM and the Ukrainian side.
"If the staff of the OSCE SMM agreed their routes with the LPR authorities, the tragedy would have been avoided, - the leader of the republic Igor Plotnitsky complained. Saboteurs are constantly monitoring the movement of the OSCE SMM patrols, - Alexander Basov, Deputy Minister of State Security of the LPR added. He emphasized that this is confirmed by the recognition of Ukrainian prisoners from the 8th regiment. "Specifically, the head of the sabotage-reconnaissance group, Major Serhiy Ivanchuk, said that their tasks included... tracking the movements of the OSCE mission's personnel for provocation and terrorist acts", - Basov asserted. He called Colonel Anatoliy Sandurskiy with the call sign Khutor a curator of the sabotage activities of the 8th regiment. Earlier, the Minister of State Security, Leonid Pasechnik, linked Sandurskiy with the murder of commander Mikhail Tolstykh (Givi)”, - Vzglyad writes, not bothering to explain from where this "Major Serhiy Ivanchuk" suddenly appeared.
Vzglyad offers its readers the opinion of "the leaders of Novorossia".
"The Ukrainian side can use the incident to "resuscitate" the topic of introducing an international military mission to Donbass. This version is supported by the representative of the LPR in the political subgroup of the Contact Group Rodion Miroshnik: "This provocation is clearly within the longstanding aspiration of Kyiv", - Vzglyad writes.
"Since the defeat in the first military campaign, Kyiv with all his might tried to drag the third party into the conflict, that is, foreigners”, - the DPR leader Alexander Zakharchenko said. - This third force could be peacekeepers and international police forces – it did not matter. According to Zakharchenko, "Kyiv needs to pull the third party into the conflict not to stop it, but in order to be able to arrange provocations at the international level".
"In the summer, Poroshenko really declared that the Normandy contact group allegedly even agreed on the introduction of the OSCE police mission to the Donbass. However, later, Russia's permanent representative Alexander Lukashevich denied this statement. The United States and most of the European countries were not that excited about the idea. "It was not possible to drag the third force into this, and Kyiv stroke at foreigners from the OSCE mission", – Alexander Zakharchenko said on Sunday. "Unfortunately, the provocation of the Ukrainian side was a success", – Vzglyad concludes.
"Bosnian scenario"
Nezavisimaya Gazeta continued to discuss the status of the occupied Donbass in an article under the eloquent title "Bosnian scenario for Donbass".
"At the end of the week, Tina Kaidanow, the deputy assistant secretary of the US for military-political issues will visit Kyiv... From 2009 to 2011, Tina Kaidanow worked as an assistant US secretary for Europe and Asia. She was the co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group from the US, which dealt with the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, and before that she worked as the US Special Representative in Pristina (the capital of Kosovo), then as US Ambassador to Kosovo. Even earlier, Kaidanow had been in the governing bodies of the US special mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina for three years. It is not surprising that now some Ukrainian experts recalled the Bosnian scenario of the settlement, which in theory can be applied to the conflict in the Donbass. Two years ago, the head of the Institute of Ukrainian politics Konstantin Bondarenko told NG about the likelihood of such a scenario. He recalled that the war between Bosnia and Herzegovina was terminated by external forces under the Dayton agreements: the belligerent country was recognized as a confederation and 60 000 NATO peacekeepers were introduced into the region for the settlement period", - NG writes.
"According to Bondarenko, such a scenario could be settled under the Minsk agreements if all parties fulfilled their obligations in the order in which they are stated. In this case, the DPR and LPR would obtain the desired special status. Immediately after the Minsk agreements were signed, Bondarenko told NG: "It reminds me of the 1995 Dayton scenario: Bosnia and Herzegovina formally remained parts of a single state, but each part became self-governing and autonomous. At the same time, the real levers of influence were transferred to the third, independent party – the OSCE. Something similar, perhaps, is being prepared for Ukraine. The scenario may suggest that the Donbass will remain a part of Ukraine, but on the rights of the region with a special status. And the situation will be de facto controlled from the outside", - NG notes.
The newspaper recalls that when such a scenario was discussed in 2015, it caused Kyiv’s heavy criticism. "The Ukrainian authorities at once stated harshly that neither the legitimization of the DPR and the LPR, nor the recognition of their special status is envisaged by the Minsk agreements. The head of the Center for Applied Political Studies Penta Volodymyr Fesenko explained that the experience of settlement under the Dayton agreements cannot be applied in the Donbass case: "There was no Russia. Serbia was weak and could not continue that war. Europe managed to resolve the conflict in conditions when there was no external factor of aggression. We have a different situation. There is a Russian factor here. Therefore, the Dayton or Bosnian scenario does not suit us". He noted that the recognition of the DPR and the LNR under external pressure would not lead to a resolution of the conflict. New fault lines would arise in Ukraine: "Politicians remember the situation with the Crimea. Sufficiently broad autonomy of the authorities of the peninsula was used by Russia against Ukraine. In fact, the militants (of the LPR and DPR. – NG) want to use the precedent with autonomy in order to destroy Ukraine at any moment. They could not turn it into a war, so there is another scenario. Formally, the territorial integrity remains, but then there will be creeping separatism", - Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes.
"... NG sources in Kyiv note that the Dayton scenario of the settlement in the Donbass can be used as a tactical step. And the strategy probably provides for the Baltic-Black Sea arc", - Nezavisimaya Gazeta concludes.
"Commander of the People's Army of Donbass"
Novaya Gazeta in the article titled "No extradition from Donbass?" states: "an enclave has appeared near Russia, where the organizers of resonant crimes not only hide themselves, but moreover, are engaged in "patriotic education of the youth".
The newspaper reports that "The Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia brought charges against sixteen persons involved in the resonant criminal case on the massacre at the Khovanskoe cemetery on May 14, 2016. Several dozens of people were injured, three people died".
"The investigation suspects 39-year-old Georgiy Makaryev of the organization and active participation in the "Khovanskoe massacre". He is on the international wanted list. But Makaryev does not hide. He participates in public events, gives interviews in Donbass. Two months ago, together with the head of the self-proclaimed "Luhansk People's Republic" Igor Plotnitsky, Makaryev cut the ribbon, opening the sports hall of martial arts in Luhansk. Georgiy Makaryev was introduced as the commander of the People's Army of Donbass non-governmental organization", - Novaya Gazeta writes.
The newspaper elaborates on Makaryev’s criminal "exploits" in Russia, because of which he was forced to flee the country to the militants of the "LPR".
"Back in May 2016, we found the interview of the head of the Healthy Nation organization, Georgiy Makaryev, preserved in Yandex cache, under the eloquent title: "Healthy Nation is the same Combat Brotherhood". In that interview, he shared his organization's plans: "Considering the fact that Russia has disreputation in the world and that the cold war has begun, the enemies of Russia artificially create hotbeds of tension at our borders, for example in Ukraine, and in truth, in the country itself. The West warms up the "fifth column", we, as patriots of our Motherland, should be prepared for the most unexpected situations", - Novaya Gazeta states.
"Makaryev was ready for an "unexpected situation" and went to the Donbass where he created and headed the People's Army of Donbass (PADO) non-governmental organization. Several dozen more Russians who were trained in the "Healthy Nation" arrived in Luhansk recently", - Novaya continues.
"According to Novaya Gazeta, employees of the Investigative Committee of Russia went to Luhansk where they tried to detain Georgiy Makaryev and bring him to Moscow. But they failed. It turns out that an enclave is being formed near Russia, where criminals can not only hide themselves, but also conduct public activities without fearing not only Russian but also international search - the territory is not recognized by anyone and is not controlled by Ukraine in fact", - Novaya concludes.
"The End of the Crimean Spring"
Moskovskiy Komsomolets publishes an extensive article on the wars of officials in Sevastopol under such an unambiguous title. The subtitle to the article sounds no less eloquent: "The Sevastopol collapse: the hopes to which we said goodbye".
Skipping detailed twists and turns about how Chalyi, Mieniaylo, Ovsyannikov and other Russian henchmen "fought" for power in Sevastopol, let us turn to the main conclusions of MK. And they are sad.
"Ukraine of Yanukovych's times had such an expression - "stability, similar to the cemeterial". So the present Sevastopol has similar story. Just with the difference that the standard of living of the majority is worsening…", - the newspaper writes about the "Ovsyannikov's orders".
"There is long-awaited silence and grace in Sevastopol. A timid moan of folk, immediately drowned in festive fanfares is heard only somewhere in the background. The stories that appeared on federal television channels about Ovsyannikov's activities - so sweet and false, became the top of the Sevastopol hypocrisy… Did roads become better? No, but that what was realized began in the times of Mieniaylo. 500 million investments were received in his times. And those roads that were made in the times of Ovsyannikov gape with holes in a few months. Prices that have become a hassle around the neck of locals creep in an even greater progression. The barbarous building that destroys the hero-city became even more aggressive - absolute lawlessness. And, by the way, those who were indignant with it mostly became silent, although it seems that there will not be a single public park and beach in Sevastopol soon - houses and cottages will be everywhere. There is no medicine and no education. There is a mess in all the structures. And this is only what is on the surface", - MK writes.
"And people from government entities progressively complain about the new government, not to the public yet. And there has become a catastrophically few policemen in the police state, as the phrase goes. As a result, marginal individuals are gad about in the center of Sevastopol, and the walls of houses are disfigured by direct drugs advertising - I cannot remind this for thirty years. Many things look like a return to the 90's. However, these troubles are mostly peculiar to the entire Crimea which has become a mirror of repulsiveness that had accumulated and came from Russia", - MK states.
The newspaper pretentiously states that "the whole history of Sevastopol is a chronicle of heroes, and those who created the Crimean spring are heroes", and immediately pours cold water on itself: "But those who came to the city today are strangers. They do not care about the Crimean spring and the glorious history. This is just another city for them. They roll their schemes as in any city while Sevastopol continues to degrade in all spheres. And now more and more people remember Ukrainian times with a kind word".
"It means that discontent will further just increase. Yes, federal programs are being successfully implemented, but there is a trouble at the city level. And people see this… The waste of skin of the present Sevastopol authorities will inevitably lead to the increase of dissatisfied people in Sevastopol, and this indignation will spread to all Russia. Rottenness will settle in the city of Russian glory, in the patriotic center of the country, where people love the Motherland like, probably, nowhere in the world, and the assembling point of Russia will turn into a disassembling point. It will be a monstrous, perhaps, fatal overturn", – MK warns.
"We are ready to conduct a dialogue with Ukraine only as the independent state"
The leader of the "DPR" Alexander Zakharchenko gave an "exclusive" interview to the Moscow Izvestiya, in which he thought about "whether the federalization of Ukraine will help to stop the bloodshed and the death of civilians".
For a start, having threatened that he would imprison the guilty of shelling "the republic" "in the dock at a future tribunal for war criminals", Zakharchenko stated: "The task that Kyiv sets itself is quite concrete: demoralization of the population. The goal is to force our residents to leave their land and homes, to become refugees. That is, to liberate the land for occupation by Ukrainians from central and, above all, western regions. This already happens in those territories of the DPR, that is, the former Donetsk oblast, which are temporarily occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine and punitive battalions".
"At the same time, it is important to bear in mind that Kyiv never refused from the plan of the seizure of Donbass. They just wait for the most vantage point in their view. International deals, military situation, economic performances, social tension in Ukraine and even weather are important here. But Kyiv has such plans - we know about them and are ready to give a decent welcome to the aggressor", - the leader of the "DPR" warned.
Answering the question about the "nationalization" of Ukrainian enterprises in the DPR, Zakharchenko assured that there was no "nationalization" in the "republic".
"… This is not about the nationalization, but about the introduction of external management. Nationalization is a complicated legal procedure as a result of which enterprises pass under national control from private property. Our decision does not concern the issue of property in general. We have introduce external management at those industrial enterprises that were supposed to simply stop as a result of the blockade by the Ukrainian party and tens of thousands of our citizens would be on the street in order they would continue to work. And the second key issue - we have moved these enterprises under our jurisdiction including for the purposes that they pay taxes to our budget and not to the budget of aggressor", - Zakharchenko explained.
He assured that "issues of the supply of raw materials and the sales of products are being solved for the enterprises of industrial group", and "the main thing for us now is the payment of wages to workers, and we are doing it".
Speaking of the drafting in the "DPR army", Zakharchenko reassured that everything was all right in this matter: "We decided long ago that we will draft only volunteers, and we do it. The queues in military registration and enlistment offices do not become smaller. As for the patriotic education of the youth, this is a separate program, and we pay special attention to it".
Zakharchenko also boasted a little that "the demand for the DPR passport had increased after their recognition by Russia, the queues have become exponentially greater". "It is a question not only of the availability or absence of travel documents for our people, but also of political self-determination. So we are pleased with these queues, and we will do our best to provide an opportunity to get a passport to anyone who will have a desire to receive it", - Zakharchenko assured.
He lamented that "there are also natural difficulties in the construction of a new state".
"The personnel problem is out front, of course. And it is not just that many specialists left the republic during active armed hostilities. The transformation of one of the regions of unitary state into the independent state causes the need for a large number of new specialists", - he stated, stressing that "we are solving this problem, although not as fast as we would like".
Izvestiya asked Zakharchenko what he thinks today about the federalization of Ukraine as "the only way to preserve the country in existing borders".
"This train has left the station. We were ready to talk about federalization with Kyiv in the spring of 2014 before Kyiv began to shoot us from tanks, guns and combat planes. Now we are ready to have a dialogue with Ukraine only along the lines of equality, as an independent state. The people of Donbass will never give up their conquests - freedom and independence, - because they were earned by great suffering and great blood", - Zakharchenko stated haughtily.
"Perhaps, we will be ready to negotiate with Kyiv on coexistence on a confederal basis as an independent state. But this will become possible just after not only the authorities in Kyiv will be replaced, but the entire ruling elite. The place of these greedy and vicious elite is either in the dock or in emigration", - Zakharchenko played smart.
However, he acknowledged that "we perfectly understand that the war will end with negotiations on the principles of community life with Ukraine some day or other".
"You cannot abolish geography. And we are ready for these negotiations now. But Kyiv is not ready for them. And it will not be ready with this government. So the future stays multiple-option. And there are both peace negotiations and war among these options", - the leader of the "DPR" concluded.
The review was prepared by Mykhailo Karpenko, OstroV