On August 31, occupied Donbas, under the close watch of local media, marked Donetsk Day, Miners’ Day, and staged an imitation of nationwide mourning for the anniversary of the liquidation of the “DNR” leader Alexander Zakharchenko.
Ordered to grieve
As always, the mourning events in memory of the militant killed on Pushkin Boulevard at the entrance to the elite restaurant “Separ”, whom the kremlin had appointed “head of the republic”, did not work out. Tearful civilians were nowhere to be seen. A few officials with obligatory bouquets of carnations came to the site of Zakharchenko’s liquidation.
The memorial service at the cemetery where the “DNR” leader was buried was just as deserted.
Near the Donetsk Drama Theater, local propagandists tried to give the latest memorial gathering the look of nationwide sorrow. “Residents of Donetsk painted a portrait dedicated to Alexander Zakharchenko. People gathered in the amphitheater and wrote with a white marker along the edges of a black canvas words-associations about the first head of the DNR. Then the artist, using a stencil, painted his face on the canvas. The work was given to the hero’s parents”, - reported Donetsk media.
In the videos and photos from the event, it is clear that these “residents of Donetsk” were mostly activists of pro-russian youth organizations.
When the last “Komsomol member” of russia’s ruling “United Russia” party left the venue, next to the ugly portrait of the slain “DNR” leader”, no one remained.
The images of the militant used in yet another event in memory of his death were of no greater artistic value. “Alexander Zakharchenko once again appeared on the streets of Donetsk. Yes, you understood correctly: dozens of cars in the capital of the Republic are now decorated with stickers bearing the portrait of the First Head of the DNR”, - local journalists reported joyfully.
The event turned out very strange, practically under guard… Armed men from the Military Commandant’s Office, fully equipped and masked, were stopping cars.
Then activists of the so-called “People’s Militia” took over. They glued portraits of Zakharchenko onto the windshields of forcibly stopped cars. Naturally, no one refused to spoil the look of their car with such a sticker…
Ordered to smile…
Out of the huge array of publications about “what kind of man he was”, one piece of information about the “first head’s” forecasts regarding the future of the “DNR” stands out in particular. “Bloknot” Telegram channel presented the section “Lines from History”. First, the propagandists quoted Zakharchenko’s answer to the question of how he envisioned the “republic” 10 years from then. Such an appeal to retro can quite easily be recognized as discrediting the idea of the “russian spring” in Donbas, since the militant’s fantasies clash glaringly with reality. “I think that in 10 years we will all be proud that we are in the Donetsk People’s Republic, our children and grandchildren will be proud of it”, - said the “pro-kremlin dreamer” in August 2015.
“Bloknot” did not fully quote the words of the “DNR” leader. It’s interesting how today Zakharchenko’s promises would be received by the mythical “people of Donbas”, who ten years ago believed in these fairy tales. “It will be a prosperous, happy, smiling, wonderful state that we must build together with you…” — declared the kremlin’s appointee back then without any grounds whatsoever.
By the way, about the smiling, happy, and prosperous “new russians of Donbas”. Just last week, the second “head of the republic”, Denis Pushilin, proudly showed moscow’s curator Sergei Kiriyenko the “liberated” Horniak and Karlivka near Kurakhove. As usual, from the once-bustling settlements, only ruins remained. Meeting with the local residents who survived russian shelling and bombardments, Pushilin cheerfully announced that “everyone has russian passports, they are receiving pensions”. However, even the staged filming of the meeting of the “happy and smiling” with the moscow guest and the moscow puppet failed. Someone among the residents complained that banking services in destroyed Horniak are unavailable, someone else reported that the city was left without medical care.
“People voiced a list of issues identical to those we encountered in other similar settlements”, - Pushilin admitted that on the “liberated” territories this is the usual picture and, in the style of his predecessor, promised: “We know from experience how to resolve them step by step. I noted all the urgent matters, took them into work, the interdepartmental working group on liberated territories will promptly process them”.
As reported earlier, the so-called “liberation” of towns and villages of Ukraine in practice means their complete destruction. So far, the occupation authorities have not been able to establish normal life in any of the “liberated” settlements, except for demonstrative and showcase Mariupol.
By Yurii Bovkh, OstroV