People en mass began to leave the occupied territories of Donbass again when cold weather and the resumption of hostilities started. Donetsk residents are fleeing not only because of war and coldness in unheated apartments. They escape from economic poverty, so-called "republics", mass repressions like in 1937, uncertainty, which make it impossible to build their future on the land "belonging to no one"...
While those who started the war in peaceful Donbass, capturing authorities, make future for themselves: they are comfortable with the uncertain status of the region and perpetual state of war. Actually, they do not have any other choice – Russia doesn’t need them, in Ukraine prison is waiting for them... They don’t think about people who are suffering, innocent victims of their deception.
For example, now unemployed, and previously self-proclaimed "people's governor", Pavel Gubarev while presenting his book in Russia said that the Donbass fate is permanent war for decades - that is, the model of Israel and the Gaza Strip. It is interesting that the separatist leader, constantly talking about the people of Donbass almost as a separate ethnic group, suddenly recognizes that residents of Donbass are part of the unified Ukrainian nation.
"Today to say that Novorossia is surrendered (is inpropriate - Ed.)... - The project is frozen and paused. And if we take the analogy, it is the Gaza Strip - an insoluble contradiction when one part of the people believes in the European myths, and another part believes that it is necessary to be in the Russian civilization... This is a fundamental contradiction - it cannot just pick it up and remove, that’s why Gaza. And we say we have to live like that for years, maybe decades, moving from a passive to an active phase, from hot confrontation in political economy as it is now"- said Gubarev.
It is also significant that "Honorary Grandfather Frost of DPR" (before the war, A. Gubarev worked as Grandfather Frost in the children’s fests - Ed.) defined the goal of the murder of thousands of people. If earlier separatists claimed that they did it for the sake of the independence of Donetsk region, it turns out now that it is much more global: "Our main mission is to return Ukraine to the all-Russian civilization space".
At the same time Gubarev denies fairy tales about close collapse of Ukraine that their separatist leaders spread in the media.
"To say that tomorrow they will fall apart is also wrong, false and a lie. The truth is that this opposition is to the point of exhaustion, this confrontation will be delayed for a long time and we must not lose heart"- said Gubarev.
In his turn, the so-called ex-Defense Minister of DPR Igor Strelkov also shared his vision of today's reality in DPR-LPR. And it also does seem to be optimistic.
"In fact, so far, Donbass is a victim, a bargaining chip in the failed game that initially doomed and which Moscow diplomats are trying to conduct with Kiev ... What have people of Donbass got? The people of Donbass have got the war, destruction and death. What has Russia got? The fact that Ukrainian army formally does not attack Crimea. And Russia has got really big economic problems, significant sanctions, which, by the way, it would have received anyways, a protracted war on its border, a complete misunderstanding by the population the patriotic part of the policy, which is being carried out", - said Strelkov in a video message to supporters.
Strelkov openly admits that the so-called "Army of Novorossia" itself is not able to withstand the Ukrainian armed forces.
"... It is clear that the army of Novorossia would not be able to resist fully the entire army of Ukraine, just because of strength, weapons, equipment and supply organization", - said he.
Strelkov explains the failure of "Novorossia" by traitors near the President Putin.
"I really believe that there is the fifth column. And Vladislav Surkov is the most prominent representative of this fifth column, a man who is conscious pest"- says Strelkov.
Putin’s presidential aide Vladislav Surkov, without exaggeration, was the main political intrigue of the past week in the "republics". And it was so because of almost identical revelations of DPR and LPR leaders Zakharchenko And Plotnitsky on the role of the employee of the presidential administration of Russia Surkov in military conflict in Donbass, to which, Russia, has no formal relations.
At first Igor Plotnitsky made a statement about the spread of information in the media about the alleged change of curators of the "republics" in Moscow and dismissal of Vladislav Surkov from this function.
"I responsibly declare that there was no change in the work of Luhansk People's Republic and the Russian Federation as a whole, and its relations with Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov, in particular" - said the head of the LPR.
"We interacted with Vladislav on all key issues and continue to work, and I would like to emphasize that we will interact with him in the future. As for the disinformation, in my opinion, enemies of republic and the Russian Federation are deliberately involved in it"- said Plotnitsky.
Then, the leader of DPR Alexander Zakharchenko publicly went all out to praise Surkov: "I would like to say thank you to the presidential aide of the Russian Federation Vladislav Surkov. Both before and now it is the person with whom we communicate on all fundamental and not only fundamental issues. Thanks this man, who is supporting the formation and development of our country, and is involved in the Minsk negotiations".
Many analysts racked their brain because of this self-exposure as it exposes the role of Russia in the Donbass conflict. Strelkov after listing many versions concludes: "Now the residents of Donbas s(and of the occupied "Novorossia") has an actual creature in Moscow, whom you can give thanks for your " heroic past, happy present and bright future". And no one can deny the involvement of this creature in all "outstanding victories and achievements" of the last year and a half".
In the humble opinion of this writer, Zakharchenko and Plotnitsky’s overtures toward Surkov were sanctioned by the last. They are aimed, firstly, to support him in Moscow, fakely elected heads of republics voiced with whom they worked and want to work on. And, secondly, these statements aimed at calming separatists, who are increasingly noticing signs of turning in "republics", but not Ukraine, and the former "regionals", who robbed the region for decades, and now fled to Ukraine and Moscow from war and continue to rob it even more. In other words, a common mafia which seized a part of the Donbass territory based in Moscow, Lugansk, Donetsk and Kiev, announced to everyone that it wouldn’t give this tidbit to anyone. That's all the reasons for the public exposure of the Surkov’s role in Donetsk, Luhansk lawlessness.
However, the leaders of "republics" need support in Moscow not only to get the next "humanitarian aid" for their supermarkets, but also in order to have somebody to shift the responsibility to. And when there is change of power they will have to be account not only to Ukraine, but also to their "fellow citizens" - because in order to freely control the illegal coal production, alcohol markets, petroleum products, scrap metal, etc. they have to hold on modern version of Stalin's 37th on the controlled territory. This is proved by the fate of the former "Minister of Fuel and Energy" of "DPR" Yevgene Faynitskyi. His brother resorted to the Prosecutor’s Office to inform about his death. Relatives couldn’t get truth from "Prosecutor's Office" of "DPR".
At the end of 2014 and beginning of 2015 Yevgen Faynitsky worked as a so-called "Minister of Fuel and Energy" of "DNR". In February this year, according to media reports, he was detained by the militants of the "the Ministry of State Security" of "DPR" for alleged espionage.
His family knew nothing about the fate of Faynitskyi. And then they got the death certificate from Rostov region of Russia. Place of death thereof is Donetsk. It is not clear why the body was in Russia. Yevgen Faynitsky died, according to the document, in May 2015. The relatives found out about it just now...
And it is not the only sad story about repression in DPR. Recently, on the public servers of separatists in social networks a video message was actively distributed from the wife of the former "head" of Novoazovsk district, who was arrested DPR activists on March 5th, 2015. He was charged with embezzlement of humanitarian aid.
"On that day the husband was gone - she said. It was known later that he was secretly taken to Donetsk. I got to know that fact that he was arrested from your statement of March 10th, 2015. You were on television, saying that my husband was suspected of embezzlement of humanitarian aid and that is already a part of the stolen was already seized, although nothing was found in the search report... From that moment our hard life started. The investigation proceeded with very serious violations of laws and human rights. My husband was under constant pressure so he pleaded guilty... Moreover, my child was deprived of the disability pension. I would like to know why my daughter is guilty?
Now our life has got a new stage of courts. We hoped that the court would issue a fair decision. But as it turned out, it’s not so easy to get to the court trial .The first trial was postponed as the judge didn’t come. The second trial took place. It was an ordinary insight into the case. They appointed the third trial, but there was no prosecutor. They appointed the forth trial but my husband could not be delivered to the court as there is no escort. As it turned out, today there is a new order of the Ministry of Inner Affairs to escort not more than 5 people a day. I wonder how it is possible to get to the court with such fullness of prisons, you can wait for years. I do not understand where all justice is in our country?"
The issue of justice in DPR, apparently, is not at the first place. More importantly there is the struggle against fascism. Besides, not only against the mythical "Ukrainian" one, and but already against the global! This was stated at the round table in Donetsk on November 9 by Donetsk political analyst Sergei Baryshnikov:
"We were aware that we, along with solution of other issues, have to primarily concentrate to resist and fight against fascism in Ukraine, fascism in Europe, fascism in the world context. Countries of so-called Western democracy proved to act in unison with the most extreme political forces, known to us".
The other figure of DPR, a "deputy Foreign Minister" Mikhail Mnukhin at the same round table accused Ukraine of Nazism, but stated that it erases the boundaries between nationalities. "Ukraine zombies population by erasing the boundaries between nationalities. It is not our way", - said "the deputy Minister".
Sorry, but "Nazism" and "erasing boundaries between nationalities" are mutually exclusive. Apparently, comrade "the deputy Minister" forgot to look up meaning of the word "Nazism" in the dictionary. We read the definition in the Russian Wikipedia: "Nazism is outlook that puts the world at the top of a certain nation (race or nation) and standing for use of repressive measures in relation to the rest of humanity".
And where is Ukraine? Is Ukraine creating the "Russian world" and forcibly drives other countries and regions there? Do Ukrainians appropriate the monopoly on truth in history and religion, declaring "holy war" with the help of state priests? In Ukraine people of different nationalities lived in peace and harmony. And then the "Russian world" came with its horror stories about "Bandera" and they began to kill for the Ukrainian language and "wrong" religion in Donbass. In Kiev, the Russian language is more often than Ukrainian and it’s not a problem. So where are the Nazis?
The minds of the leaders of DPR are more interested in the life in Ukraine even more than global fascism. They compare how better the live is in than in the whole country. For example, more than half of the 8-minute speech of militant leader Alexander Zakharchenko in Debaltsevo published by "the Ministry of Information of DPR is about how bad it is in Ukraine.
"Their sowing campaign failed – it is also true. In fact, by 6.4% less than last year. And the trend, unfortunately, is going to decrease. Regarding gas, we, unfortunately, have very great achievements in this aspect. You, I hope, are watching TV and Ukraine’s prepayment for gas is left for 4 days. Please note: the old Ukrainian tradition is to celebrate the New Year in Moscow. On December 31st they always go to Moscow to negotiate about gas... "
It should be noted that Zakharchenko said these words in Debaltsevo on November 4th. Since then more than "4 days of prepayment for gas" have passed, but no one noticed the gas collapse in Ukraine... But, you noticed that the leader of the DPR showed his intelligence once again: "We, unfortunately, have very great achievements in aspect ". That is, he is sorry about the achievements.
And another Zakharchenko’s gem, who explains why the prices in the DPR are two times higher than in Ukraine and Russia, why there is no gasoline, no heat in their homes.
"Our nation doesn’t need economy, and so we can live like that, without economy", - blurted out the leader of "republic" in Debaltsevo.
Now I understand why people are fleeing en masse from the territory captured by militants.
Sergei Garmash, OstroV