It is more than just an intersection. It is a denial of the status quo. By recognizing the separatist territories in the provinces Donetsk and Luhansk of eastern Ukraine and in particular with the advance of Russian troops into the region, Russia permanently deletes “gray zone” of the past eight years, during which these territories officially belonged to Ukraine, but were in fact under Russian rule. Since then millions of people have fled these lands. Most fled to Ukraine, but hundreds of thousands of people chose to settle in Russia.
The so-called “people’s democracies” of Donetsk and Luhansk declared themselves in the spring of 2014 in eastern Ukraine, following mass pro-Western demonstrations in Kiev, preceded by a change of government. Both “people’s democracies” make a living from steel and lignite production. But while Luhansk was one of the poorest regions in Ukraine, the Donetsk region has always enjoyed relative prosperity. In fact, 2012 was one of the cities in which games of the European Football Championship took place. The event was co-organized by Poland and Ukraine.
How the split came about
Separatist tendencies had not emerged in the region since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. A visible danger first emerged in 2004, when the “Orange Revolution” prevented the victory of Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian governor of Donetsk, in the Ukrainian presidential election. At the time, Yanukovych’s “Party of the Regions” had already threatened to secede, but did not dare to carry out its threats. But in 2010 Yanukovych finally managed to become president of Ukraine. Initially, it pursued a policy of equal distances between the West and Russia, but the apparently pro-Russian turn it attempted in the winter of 2013/2014 provoked strong reactions from the opposition parties. Yanukovych eventually fled to Russia, which took advantage of the power vacuum in Kiev to annex the Crimean peninsula.
In eastern Ukraine, pro-Russian sentiments were less pronounced than in Crimea. In the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces there was certainly strong skepticism about the new government in Kiev, with some interpreting Yanukovych’s departure as a defeat for the pro-Russian population. However, according to opinion polls at the time, preferences were rather divided. In Donetsk, around 20% said they would welcome the Russian army as liberators, but a similar percentage said they were determined to fight to stay in Ukraine.
In the spring of 2014, Russian citizens in eastern Ukraine, who may have been in contact with the secret services, raided town halls and police stations, looting the weapons they found. “Referendums” followed for the secession from Ukraine and were declared “people’s democracies” with Russian leadership. The Kiev government failed to quell the uprising. In the summer of 2014, Ukrainian forces were able to retake the territory, but that changed in August, when the Russian military appeared to be intervening in Ukraine. today Moscow. The fact is that the Ukrainian army was severely defeated in the settlement of Ilovaysk, southeast of Donetsk. The hostilities then ceased and the Minsk peace agreement was signed, which effectively “froze” the front line, offering an opportunity for diplomatic mediation.
Erosion is progressing rapidly
In both provinces, exorcism began with the use of Russian textbooks in schools and ended with the introduction of the Russian currency. It is estimated that the Russians took over the training of the army, something that Moscow denies. Local industry collapsed, but some industrial units were relocated to Russian territory.
In 2019, Moscow began distributing Russian passports to the population of the separatist territories. According to recent estimates, some 80,000 people in eastern Ukraine have now acquired Russian citizenship. The protection of these “Russians” is also the main argument that Moscow relies on today in order to recognize the “people’s democracies” of Donetsk and Luhansk. It was not easy for Ukraine to handle the issue legally. Initially, it treated the separatist territories as “terrorist organizations”, later referred to them as “occupied territories” and only in 2018 did it name Russia as an “occupying power”. According to the rules of international law, however, both regions remain part of the Ukrainian territory.
Deutsche Welle
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