After two years: "The people are still dying and the west closes its eyes"

"In Donbass, civilians are still dying and the West keeps its eyes closed"

Nikola MIKOVIC
In Katehon, May 31, 2016
Translated from French by Tom Winter, June 2, 2016
When Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of US State for European and Eurasian Affairs, admitted that Washington had spent more than $ 5 billion to influence Ukrainian politics, she should not have doubted that at some point this interference would turn into a fiasco. 

In effect, since February 22, 2014 and the pro-Brussels coup in Kiev, Ukraine plunged into a hellish vortex where the oligarchs are still in power, poverty and political strife plague the social fabric, and the country dislocates into shreds. 

Our Western mainstream media have not highlighted the backgrounds of the participants of Maidan Movement: many leaders come from a clearly neo-Nazi movement, motivated more by their hatred of Russian than by the love of Ukraine. It is the taking of power by force by these people that will set fire to the powder.

Following the coup, the Constitution of Ukraine became de facto obsolete and the Russian-speaking population could not see themselves living under the thumb of a self-proclaimed government, many of whose members are so dedicated to their visceral hatred against the "Russians" as even to try to prohibit Russian as an official language. 

In Russian-speaking regions the reaction would not wait. Crimea initiated its movement first by voting reunification with Russia in a referendum as early as March. Then the people of Donbass (south-east) voted for autonomy in May. 

Kiev does nothing in Crimea but sends the army against the people of Donbass. The region of Donbass, inhabited by some 4 million people, is organized into two sister republics: the People's Republic of Lugansk (LNR in Russian) and the People's Republic of Donetsk (DNR in Russian). 

Against the army of Kiev the people of Donbass organized themselves into popular militias. Since May 2014 the war has devastated the Donbass that was one of the most prosperous regions of Ukraine. It counts to date more than 9,000 dead, 21,000 injured, and a million left essentially refugees in Russia. 

The general media silence about what is happening in Donbass is almost as terrifying as the war itself.

 In the context of second anniversary of the DNR and to commemorate the victory of the Great Patriotic War against Nazism in 1945, I was invited by the Foreign Minister of the DNR in early May to participate in various commemorative events and an international round table on the situation of Donbass. 

I had the opportunity to talk with Denis Pushilin, the chairman of the people of the DNR, and Alexander Zakharchenko, war hero of Donbass and president of the DNR, on the current situation in the region and consequences of the interference of Washington in Europe. Whether it was people in administration, or ordinary citizens I met, I saw people who fully understood the real politics of the situation and showed a flawless determination to defend their cause.

Kiev no longer pays pensions and persists in bombarding civilian neighborhoods but that does not stop the people of Donbass who organize, help each other, and rebuild. 

The government that emerged from the putsch in Kiev and the special advisers sent by Nobel Peace Prize Barack Obama are perplexed: where they had expected to sweep out the "subhumans" with the back of the hand in a few days, they came to realize that the population of Donbass is stubborn and would not let it happen. 

The Minsk II agreements, negotiated in February 2015 between Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany to find a peaceful solution to the conflict are far from being implemented. Kiev has lagged behind its commitments, fighting continues despite the official truce, and war burst forth overnight. 

Moscow, for its part, has no interest in the conflict growing, to the great displeasure of the inhabitants of Donbass, who would love to see the Russian army at their side. For the Kremlin, although this would have a historical sense, the risks are too great of being designated by the West as an invader and, in any case, the current failed situation of Kiev's Atlanticist strategy is not necessarily displeasing to Russia. For the White House and Kiev it is just the opposite: the situation is serious because their project loses credibility every day and, outside of Donbass, they are beginning to realize it elsewhere in Ukraine.

It is in this situation that we took advantage of our presence there to go to the front to lead a humanitarian mission for the French association France Vostok - Donbass Solidarity (www.vostokfrance.org). 

You can not imagine how apocalyptic the situation on the frontline is. The bombs continue to fall, there is no water, no electricity, houses and buildings are gutted and the people do not eat every day. 

Here we distributed food and new car batteries to residents so they can create small electrical networks and at least illuminate the cellars where they take refuge when the bombs fall. 

These people, humble, simple, and determined, never leave, as they say themselves: "Why leave? We are home." Christians, they are very devout and confident, as if war was inevitable and victory a certainty. 

They are in any case the grain of sand in the liberal gearbox prepared by Washington and Brussels that is stifling Europe and, perhaps unknowingly, they are fighting for more than just the Donbass.


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