It is a pity to witness our colleagues from Ukrainian embassies abroad using foreign media to spread propaganda and even blatant lies in order to disguise Kiev’s war against its own people and blame Russia for the troubles of the post-Maidan authorities. In this context, Kiev does not bother to invent something new and simply reprints the same texts in different outlets. The most recent example — nearly identical “opinion pieces” by Ukrainian Ambassadors to the UAE and the US that, by coincidence, appeared on the same day in two local newspapers — Gulf News and Al Ittihad.
Bitter truth gives no pleasure, but the truth is that Kiev is waging a war against its own people, calling it an “anti-terrorist” operation in the East of the country, where millions of Ukrainian citizens were labelled “terrorists” and “separatists” and are now facing Kiev’s armour, artillery and combat aviation. The targets of this punitive campaign are native Russian-speaking inhabitants of Donetsk, Slavyansk, Lugansk, Kharkov and dozens of other communities in the East, the majority of whom were alarmed by the unconstitutional armed coup in Kiev and worried for their future, identity and security, when the new authorities came to power on the shoulders of “Maidan” radicals and neo-Nazis (like “Right Sector”) and began to spread violence and Russophobic sentiment to the rest of the country. Instead of trying to promote a national dialogue, the new government resorted to coercion, arrested popular leaders thus giving the local people no choice but to take arms to protect their legitimate rights, including the one to use their mother tongue.
Psychological pressure
It sounds unbelievable but members of some parties, even within the ruling coalition, derogatorily call in public Russian-speakers of Ukraine “beings” and call for their liquidation, for example — as suggested by the former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko — by using “nuclear weapons”. Those Easterners, who dared to participate in the announced presidential elections, are exposed to psychological pressure and physical violence.
Facing strong grassroot opposition in Eastern Ukraine and being unable to curb its growth and popularity, the authorities in Kiev found nothing better than to present the situation in this region as an outcome of foreign meddling. Keeping in mind common pro-Russian sentiments in the region, persistent appeals for referendum on federalisation, which are also voiced by local activists, the incumbent Ukrainian government did not hesitate to point at Moscow, accusing it of planning “to find [a] foolproof way to conduct a war against [a] neighbouring country”. It looks like the authors and proponents of these fantasies in Kiev try to see the Russian-speaking protesters through the lenses of their own experience of coordinating each step with foreign partners, be it during Maidan or after it. While the latter is a well-known fact, it is not the same with the Eastern regions. Neither Kiev nor anybody else has ever managed to present any credible confirmation of the presence of Russian agents or special forces in Ukraine. Obviously fabricated accounts presented by the Ukrainian side cannot be taken seriously. The circulating claims of “strangers in green uniforms ruining daily lives” in the East are also more applicable to the Kiev’s military and paramilitary forces that regularly harass local communities but usually end up being blocked by Ukrainian civilians, including women, or driven away.
Understanding of the criminal nature of orders from Kiev cause many soldiers to give up their weapons and vehicles or even join the local resistance to protect this land from radicals and thugs who were specially trained and brought to Donbass from other regions of Ukraine. Of course, these facts were not mentioned in the article by the Ukrainian Ambassador.
As for Russia — we neither have any activity there nor want to introduce our troops into the territory of Ukraine, as it contradicts the interests of the Russian Federation. All the pressing issues in Ukraine should be solved by political and diplomatic means. Those who seized power in Kiev, claiming to represent the interests of all Ukrainians, should show the initiative, lend a hand to regions, and listen to their concerns and aspirations, including those related to carrying out inclusive and transparent constitutional reform.
It seems that the same people, who scrapped the February 21 agreement with president Viktor Yanukovych, do not look much interested in implementing the statement of the April 17 Geneva meeting. Militants from the “Right Sector” and other pro-fascist groupings, which took part in the coup in Kiev last February, should finally disarm, vacate occupied buildings in the Ukrainian capital and Western regions of the country.
Dear Ukrainian colleagues, nothing personal. I understand that you are fulfilling your professional duty but, please, do not pass the buck. The sooner you stop seeking a “hand of Moscow” as a source of all troubles, the sooner it will be possible to start resolving the crisis. It is the hand of Kiev that actually holds the key to the settlement.
Alexander Efimov is Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to the UAE.
