Ukraine’s civil war: why so many lies?

I wonder, what the section of our citizens, who in the last six months shouted about ‘terrorists’ or ‘separatists’ in Donbass, was thinking about while they were watching long queues at the polling stations in Donetsk and Lugansk? As for me, the pictures of voting in Donbass are quite indicative. The very fact, that so many people came to polling stations, clearly displays the thoughts and opinions of the people in East Ukraine.

Throughout 8 months we were told about ‘Russian aggression”, ‘Putin’s terrorists’ and ‘poor Lugansk and Donetsk residents terrorized by putinists’. But what do we really see there? It appears that so-called ‘terrorists-separatists’ are almost all residents of the ‘Greater Donbass’ region. And instead of talking to these people or attempting to coexist with them in peace; instead of meeting the demands of the justly (!) protesting people of Donbass, Kiev authorities launched a protracted war with them.

Do you really understand – how absurd it is – to kill our own citizens during 8 last months, just because they oppose the persons who had seized power in the country, without people’s consent? And at the same time, they have been telling the rest of Ukraine that Putin is to blame for this – as if it was not really a protest of the local population, but an alleged aggression of a neighbor country.

Can you just imagine: how the population of East Ukraine and the residents of other parts, who remained defiant to the pseudo-patriotic (actually even anti-patriotic) propaganda, viewed the president, the Cabinet, MPs, media and ‘sofa patriots’ – inadequate and brainless morons because of their false claims about aggression?

By God, but it is as clear as a day! Any sane and even somewhat thinking person understands it quite well: a split in a country cannot be solved by war. Any war could only be a short-term resolution. It can temporarily damp down the problem, but then there will be even harsher aftereffects. And it was quite obvious from the very beginning of the conflict: people of the South and East Ukraine would never accept the changes that happened in February 2014 in Ukraine. That is, the protests were quite expected: it is as clear as two and two make four. I’m e.g. not an analyst or investigative journalist, but I had assumed on February 22 that the events would develop in exactly this way.

And I remember very well another instance: at the round table debates on May 17, one of the Lugansk city deputies criticized the Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and - rightly warned him - over the usage and dissemination of the abusive term ‘colorads’ [as nationalists refer to those who wear St. George ribbon in commemoration of the WWII victory]: “It is still possible to stop now, but tomorrow you will not be able to get off just with Confederation”. [Originally, the protesters in Donbass demanded confederation and autonomy, but their demands were met with military assault].

Any person of sense could predict the current state of affairs. It was impossible to predict only the steps of the new Kiev authorities. Even in a nightmare, one couldn’t dream of that hell – the reaction of Kiev to the just (I emphasize: just!) protests of Donetsk and Lugansk.

Those who call themselves ‘Ukrainian patriots’, but have seen the pictures of queues to polling stations in Donbass, should put to themselves just 2 reasonable questions:

1. Why have the authorities been telling lies to us, while ignoring at least 6 million dissident Ukrainians?
2. Why did the authorities respond with war and murders?

Everything is more or less clear with the first question: when a lie is profitable; when there’s an audience and confidence that you will be trusted – why not to lie then? However, if you seek the answer to the second question, there may arise two conclusions: either our authorities – just a bunch of incompetent and stupid madmen, who seized the power via blood and will think nothing before shedding more blood. Or, the Ukrainian ‘political elite’ is just a decoration, completely controlled by its ‘master’. There is no third option.

Although, both conclusions speak against the current authorities of Ukraine – they both actually mean that true patriots should at least be outraged with the actions of such authorities. But I’m confident that this won’t happen. Not in Ukraine. And not now. Ukraine 2014 is already outside of logic. And when the current situation in Ukraine is analyzed, one can easily arrive to a conclusion: if the country is falling apart, it’s exceptionally Kiev’s fault (not the fault of Donetsk or Lugansk).

Thus, the next question arises: who are really those people in power in Kiev and where do they lead us? That is the question today.

Yuri Roman

Liva

Transaltion: Dmitriy Kolesnik