The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov did not rule out the introduction of martial law in the territories of Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics if the process of their reintegration was launched. He expressed this opinion in an interview with Liga.net, noting that it is necessary to interact with the population of these regions, although it would be “much easier” to cancel a number of democratic procedures.
“We need to communicate with them, they need to explain. We are a democratic state. It would be much easier to build a totalitarian regime and say: no elections, we introduce martial law. But this is an absolutely extreme case, ”Danilov said.
The NSDC Secretary also expressed dissatisfaction with the use of the generally accepted concept of “Donbass”. Its use Danilov called "one of the elements of a hybrid war, when Russia begins to separate the Donbass or Galicia from Ukraine." In addition, the official said that the Russian Federation is in a difficult situation and in the future it will be “collapsed”.
Commenting on this statement by Danilov about Russia, State Duma deputy from Sevastopol Dmitry Belik noted that Ukrainian politicians "have long been leading anti-ratings according to their predictions."
“Another Nostradamus claims the collapse of Russia. Our country has stood, stands and will stand on its political and moral principles. And no matter how some Kiev politicians try to predict the collapse of Russia to please the West or themselves, these are words into the void that even their people do not believe in, ”the source said.
- NSDC Secretary Alexei Danilov
- © Genya Savilov / AFP
“Preparing” for reintegration
Calls to “return” the uncontrolled territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, bypassing the Minsk agreements and generally accepted democratic procedures, have been heard for the first time in Ukraine. However, earlier such statements were mostly the lot of nationalists, individual journalists and radical deputies, experts interviewed by RT noted.
So, in January, the leader of the Ukrainian ultra-right organization C14 Yevgeny Karas published several provocative videos. On one record, the radicals are firing from machine guns and pistols under Karasy’s comment: “We are preparing for the reintegration of Donbass.”
Another video captures a man with a flamethrower and in a helmet resembling a helmet of Nazi Germany soldiers. Karas called this character "the new sanitary and epidemiological station in Donetsk region."
The nationalist also asked the flamethrower if he was ready "for the reintegration of the Donbass," and received an affirmative answer in German from him. In the third video, the flamethrower releases a stream of flame, which C14 member Sergei Bondar in his Instagram called "a good sprayer against colorado."
In December, Ukrainian journalist Ostap Drozdov published a post on Facebook about reform of Ukrainian education on Facebook. In it, he stated, in particular: “Russian-speaking children should disappear from the face of my country” and Russian-speaking citizens “as a species”.
In October 2019, on the air of the Ukrainian Fifth Channel, Drozdov compared citizens living in eastern Ukraine with animals. According to him, “Donbass is the worst in civic consciousness,” as it is the bearer of “distilled Ukrainophobia.” Then he also expressed the opinion that the population of uncontrolled territories should be deprived of Ukrainian citizenship.
In June, the initiative to limit the rights of people living in the Donbass was made by the deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Health Oleg Musiy. The deputy introduced to the parliament a bill on the confiscation of property of residents of the region who took the opportunity to obtain a Russian passport.
- Ukrainian military training
- © General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Experts believe that such “anti-human initiatives” and radical statements in post-Maidan Ukraine eloquently testify to the contempt for the people of Donbass that prevailed among the Kiev authorities and nationalists.
As the president of the Center for System Analysis and Forecasting Rostislav Ishchenko noted in an interview with RT, the statement about the possibility of introducing a "totalitarian regime" Alexey Danilov articulated "what was already known."
“This is the essence of the policy of post-maidan authorities. They consider it permissible to conduct shelling of settlements and deal with those people who adhere to a "non-Ukrainian" position. In such conditions, it is impossible to talk seriously about any democracy and peaceful settlement. By and large, the NSDC secretary said what everyone in Kiev already had in mind, ”said Ishchenko.
In turn, the leading researcher at RISI Oleg Nemensky, in a conversation with RT, noted that Kiev does not perceive the inhabitants of the DPR and LPR as Ukrainians. The official propaganda of the country affirmed the thesis that the population of uncontrolled territories is “traitors who have sided with Russia.”
“The reintegration of Donbass has already become a moral and ethical problem due to inadequate“ patriotic ”propaganda in Ukraine, which is aimed at breaking with everything that is connected with Russia. As a result, we hear regular statements that “some kind of different people” live there, whose rights should be somewhere on the periphery of the authorities’s attention, ”Nemensky stated.
"Empty declaration"
It is worth noting that in December in Kiev they took the official course to amend the Minsk agreements. In particular, the Ukrainian leadership is categorically not satisfied with the fixed sequence of actions in the framework of the reintegration of uncontrolled territories.
Recall that the agreement of February 12, 2015 presupposes the consolidation of the special status of Donbass in the constitution of Ukraine, the subsequent holding of local elections on the basis of amended legislation, and then the transfer of the border to Kiev on the first day after the vote.
At the same time, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky considers it impossible to “federalize” the country and opposes the introduction of appropriate amendments to the fundamental law. He also insists that control over the border in the Donbass be established before the election.
At the same time, Moscow, as a guarantor of the concluded agreements, proceeds from the lack of alternativeness of Minsk-2. So, in December, at an annual press conference, Vladimir Putin warned that in the event of a revision of the agreements, "the situation may even come to a standstill."
A RT source at the Office of the President of Ukraine notes that Zelensky is surrounded by completely different groups of politicians, some of whom want to "isolate themselves from the Donbass" or hold radical views on the negotiation process.
“Zelensky is still more peaceful, he wants to return the Donbass to Ukraine, and is ready to make minor compromises for this. But what position will ultimately prevail is not very clear now. Negotiations are very difficult, and any careless statement can bring people to the streets, ”the source told RT.
- Zelensky surrounded by military personnel in the Donbass
- © president.gov.ua
Now Zelensky’s plans are to hold elections in uncontrolled territories in October 2020. According to the president, "people in the Donbass need elections that will be recognized by Ukraine and the whole world as legitimate." However, Rostilav Ishchenko believes that such plans of the Ukrainian leader are nothing more than a “shock of air”.
“There are no prerequisites for the revision of Minsk on the conditions of Kiev. Therefore, it is difficult for me to imagine a situation where the elections that Zelensky so wants to hold bypassing the Minsk agreements will be held. No matter how the situation turns, Kiev will not and will not be able to give any guarantees of security to the residents of Donbass, ”said Ishchenko.
A RT source in the European Solidarity party called the idea of Zelensky about holding elections in the Donbass "stupid." According to him, "data from a closed sociology indicate that parties and leaders who do not support Kiev will win the vote."
Oleg Nemensky adheres to a similar point of view: “Even if elections in Ukrainian law were held in Donetsk and Lugansk, then the Kiev parties would have failed miserably. In my opinion, local political forces would have won a landslide victory. In fact, Kiev is well aware of this alignment of public sentiment. ”
“The statement of the NSDC Secretary speaks about this once again. All statements by the Ukrainian authorities on the importance of the elections are another empty declaration, ”the expert summed up.