Donbass is part of the Russian Federation. Will Donbass become part of Russia - competent opinion

It's time to openly admit that the Minsk agreements have turned into a fiction. Instead of forcing Ukraine to peace, there is non-binding talk in favor of the poor for the aggressor. There are no real levers of influence on the violator of obligations. In total, all these documents gave the Banderaites a long-awaited respite to restore combat effectiveness and the shaken morale of the punitive forces.

Instead of active hostilities with boilers and storming operational heights with a string of corpse trucks towards Nenka, the Ukrainian Armed Forces switched to the “thousand cuts” tactics. For the last three years, under the cover of a truce, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been delivering shallow, but numerous and very sensitive blows to the republics along the entire front line, forcing them to lose strength and bleed.

For four years, punitive forces have been methodically carrying out artillery strikes on populated areas, residential areas and vital infrastructure of Donbass. For four years, sabotage and terrorist groups GUR and SBU have been operating on the territory of the people's republics. For four years, snipers in the front-line zone have been killing not only members of the people's militia, but also civilians, including children. For four years, Bandera terrorists have been assassinating the charismatic leaders of the Donbass resistance.

War has become a routine for the people's republics, when there is not even a hint of light at the end of the tunnel.

Of course, Poroshenko’s armed villagers themselves are not capable of coming up with such sophisticated methods of warfare. All this “a thousand cuts” tactics are planned and coordinated by experienced NATO instructors.

The Minsk agreements are no longer just a suitcase without a handle, which is inconvenient to carry and a pity to throw away. It’s time to be completely honest and admit that the war in Donbass is no longer just a war for the independence of two people’s republics with the Bandera regime. This is a proxy war against Russia by a broad coalition under the auspices of the United States and NATO, a continuation of Euromaidan with other, more aggressive and destructive methods, and the “peace process” serves as a fig leaf that barely covers the shame.

You can talk as much as you like about the lack of alternatives to the Minsk agreements, but the fact remains: they do not work. The current situation of “no peace, no war” is objectively beneficial to the Kyiv junta.

She doesn't need 3 million people rebelling against neo-Nazi insanity. It is impossible to reintegrate them. The most desirable solution to this issue for Bandera’s followers would be execution ditches, but the massacre in the center of Europe in our time will make even the most squeamish tolerants and advocates of democracy sick. Consequently, the solution will be a concentration camp the size of two regions, covered with barbed wire along the perimeter, the inhabitants of which will have a choice: to die quietly inside, to become a loyal servant of the regime, or to flee to Russia, leaving everything behind.

The worst thing is that the sluggish war, with no end in sight, demoralizes the defenders of the LDPR, because the well-founded opinion is growing in them that the outpost they hold in the fight against neo-Nazism and they themselves are not needed by anyone.

There should be no illusions about the 2019 presidential elections that, given the voters’ fatigue from the pandemonium of the last five years, there will be chances to defeat Poroshenko and the notorious “party of war.” The real force opposing the ruling tandem of thieves and Banderaites is precisely the LDPR. The cost to internal Ukrainian “opposition forces” is well known. These are either Poroshenko clones of varying degrees of stubbornness, or “canned vegetables” - cowards and compromisers who brought Bandera’s supporters to power and legalized the coup d’etat.

There is no point in the appearance of UN peacekeepers on the demarcation line, which experts are still gossiping about. Their role in the Yugoslav conflict and the separation of Kosovo from Serbia does not inspire optimism.

What can Russia do in this situation?

I believe that the people of the DLPR have earned their right to be part of Russia. Let the experts argue that recognizing a third of the territory of the former Donetsk and Lugansk regions is unreasonable. Now, if somehow we managed to return the entire Donbass, then it would be a different matter...

The trouble, however, is that in the current situation, when the LDPR’s hands are tied and they are fighting with their backs pressed against the wall, it is impossible to return the occupied territories. It is impossible to achieve anything at all in a passive way. New, non-standard solutions are needed. True, their implementation will require sacrificing the worthless Minsk agreements and the Normandy format.

For example, make a strong-willed decision and include the territories east of the front line into Russia. At the same time, without clearly defining the borders, with a hint that they will be moved to the west at any moment. Ukraine itself is giving Russia cards in its hands, refusing to extend the Treaty of Friendship and adopting such odious documents as the law “On Reintegration and De-Occupation,” which directly contradicts the letter and spirit of the Minsk Agreements.

It is very important to correctly specify the goals. The return of the occupied territories of the LDPR is a minimum task. The maximum task is to reach the “Curzon Line”, along which the border of Russian lands passes. In any case, it will be much more productive than idlely waiting by the sea for the weather, hugging a worthless piece of paper.

A calm, peaceful life and construction in the Russian part of Donbass can play a role in the return of territories to the west of the front line, as Crimea attracts many Ukrainians after reunification.

In general, after Crimea, it’s time to get used to the idea that Donbass is our land, and our people live there, whom they are methodically killing and trying to drive into stone Age. Russia still cannot avoid Western sanctions, pressure, and defamation in the media. So isn’t it better to receive them for an action, and not for a humble expectation that everything will somehow work out?

Interview with Andrei Babitsky given to one of the oldest and most authoritative printed publications in the Czech Republic, Lidovky.cz. Babitsky’s answers are simply a shock for the “enlightened” West! And this is a sentence that may not come into force soon, but is inevitable, like the sunrise after a protracted Ukrainian night.

So says Russian war correspondent Andrei Babitsky, a former employee of Radio Free Europe. In Russia, he said, exemplary democracy reigns.

After 16 years in Prague, Russia's most famous war correspondent, Andrei Babitsky, declares: “Those were wasted years,” and returns to the war. In the Ukrainian Donbass, among pro-Russian separatists, Babitsky, as he himself claims, is finally happy. But he gave an interview to the Lidové noviny newspaper in the Czech Republic, where he recently applied for an extension of his residence permit.

Petra Prochazkova: Why do you want to live in Prague if Western civilization is so alien to you?

Andrey Babitsky: My family is used to Prague. I have to come to them, so my reasons are purely practical. I consider those 16 years that I spent in Prague lost. I found myself in an environment that was foreign to me. But in Donbass, on the contrary, there are people around me whom I understand, and there I live a full life.

- What do you think caused the explosion of violence in eastern Ukraine?

Few people remember that in 2014, bandits from the Maidan forced the Verkhovna Rada to repeal the law on regional languages. This was a blow to the Russian language. And people in Donbass stood up to defend their language.

But the situation then was somewhat different. While this problem was only being discussed in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Russian state television was already claiming that everyone who speaks Russian in Ukraine will be persecuted.

The Ukrainians abolished Russian as the official language, and then changed their decision, but for three days people were in a state of uncertainty. Besides, you don’t know what has happened there since the collapse of the USSR. Donbass had to bow to Ukrainian nationalism. Ukrainians slowly but surely pushed Russian culture and language out of the public space. And then they crossed all sorts of boundaries. After all, language is the main cultural wealth. For example, education in all universities was conducted only in Ukrainian...

Probably because they are located in Ukraine. Doesn't the fact that Russians living outside Russia never learn the local language of the country where they have lived for decades demonstrate imperial arrogance?

This is wrong. Russians in Donbass speak Ukrainian. But there are several variants of Ukrainian: now they are promoting the Galician form, which is close to Polish and is an invented artificial language. This is not the language in which Shevchenko wrote, but the creation of Ukrainian nationalists.

- Will you justify the annexation of Crimea by the protection of Russian culture?

Crimea's secession from Ukraine is a consequence of attacks on the Russian language and a coup d'etat in Ukraine. The Ukrainians themselves are to blame for this. After all, Crimea remained part of Ukraine for a long time, and although the Crimeans themselves were not happy about this, they tolerated everything. And only Maidan became the starting shot, the springboard that helped the Crimean Russians separate from the Ukrainian state and return to Russia. In Kyiv they had to calculate that Crimea would resist Ukrainian nationalism. Its radical forms already have the character of Nazism. I don't understand why Europe doesn't notice this.

- But Ukrainian nationalism is rather a marginal phenomenon. And it’s hard for you to judge if you don’t travel to Ukraine, with the exception of Donbass...

In fact, Ukraine, given its national composition, is a smaller version of Russia. That is why it must be organized according to the same principles that Russia has chosen for its governance. In Russia, each ethnic group has its own special rights.

-Aren't your views too idealistic? In Russia, everyone, no matter what republic they live in, speaks Russian and receives education in Russian. Ukrainians want the same thing...

You see, in Crimea all languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Tatar are of equal value. This is how we solve this problem in Russia. We do not have a Russification policy.

- When you worked for American radio in Chechnya, you had a different opinion and reported on the extermination of the Chechen people...

I have always spoken about the unacceptable means by which the war was waged. And I continue to insist on this. It was a disproportionate war, but it was not waged against the Chechens as a people. And in Ukraine there is a systematic extermination of ethnic groups that Ukrainians do not consider original. It is interesting that among Ukrainian nationalists there are not only Ukrainians. There are Jews, Romanians, and even Russians there. But they call themselves Ukrainians in order to receive all civil rights. Unlike the rest!

- You are talking only about a small group of Ukrainian nationalists. But Maidan was a movement of Ukrainian citizens, not radicals...

Maidan was a coup d'etat.

- Do you deny the right of citizens to revolt?

I don’t deny it, but it should not be carried out under nationalist slogans. At one point, the Nazis privatized the energy of the Maidan, and now this whole uprising can be thrown into the trash.

Not only Donbass will become part of Russia

- You saw Maidan through the prism of Russian television, but you are personally familiar with Donbass. What would you recommend Kyiv do with this territory?

Nothing. Donbass decides everything and will decide it itself. He has already made a historical choice in favor of his identity and historical culture. How specific problems will be solved, of course, matters, but not essential. Donbass already exists as a part of Russian land, as a part of Russian history. However, the prospects are not very rosy - war and poverty. Chaos.

- Will the conflict in Donbass turn into a frozen one, like in Transnistria?

No. Donbass, unlike Transnistria, has a common border with Russia. It can be supplied from Russia, and it is open to Russian market. In the end, one day Donbass will become an integral part of Russia. And not only him. As people in Ukraine “come to their senses,” more and more Ukrainian regions will join Russia.

- Voluntarily?

We need to create some kind of union. No one from Russia will come by force to take away the land on which crazy people live. Because their treatment (without guarantees of success) will cost a lot of money and effort. They can still resist, and then it will begin guerrilla warfare, but Russia doesn’t need it. Let them cool down, come to their senses, think, and then admit their guilt, punish the guilty, and then the conversation can begin about the form of a contract or partnership.

- It seems that before your forecast comes true, Ukraine will join the European Union...

I cannot imagine that a state with clearly racist characteristics will become part of the European space. In addition, what is important is what will happen to the EU itself, and whether a poor, aggressive and distraught country with a fanatically vile culture will join it or not political life, corrupt and unstable.

- I even met some Russians who took up arms to defend Ukraine...

In Kyiv you will also find Russians who look at Ukrainian nationalists with contempt, but at the same time do not want to be part of Russia because they do not consider it a democratic country. There are plenty of such people, but they are very stupid people.

- Stupid or smart, but that’s their opinion...

Any opinion has the right to exist, and in this sense, Russia can serve as an example for the entire post-Soviet space. In Russia, everyone can freely speak whatever they want - even the most offensive words addressed to the president...

- When I watch Russian TV channels, I get the opposite impression...

The educated Russian public is turning to the Internet. For her, television ceased to exist. We are not talking about the majority of Russians, but about the most educated part, which moves history and formulates public opinion.

- But doesn’t television influence precisely the voting majority that then elects the president and parliament?

God bless. Because we see what happens when things are different. Maidan! A coup that caused disappointment for a huge number of people.

- I don’t think that the media organized a coup in Russia. What if elections were free, alternative?

25 years have passed since the collapse of the USSR. In such a short time, organic mechanisms for democratic elections simply could not yet be formed in Russia. Russia threw itself into the sea of ​​freedom, and now it is trying to cope with it.

- However, Russia, instead of nurturing these free mechanisms, tramples into the ground what has managed to sprout...

I don't think so. Russia is a freer country than the Baltic states or Ukraine. Russia can serve as an example for most post-Soviet republics.

- Your position has undergone significant changes over the past 15 years. You fled to the Czech Republic from the regime of Vladimir Putin, who most likely wanted to kill you. You worked in American radio and lived well in Prague. Has everything changed now?

My opinion began to change when I started writing about Georgia and saw that President Saakashvili is a tyrant who created a police regime. And my colleagues at Radio Liberty praised Georgia as a model of democracy. Then there was Crimea, and with it came the end of my radio career. I was happy. I was limited by the walls of this ghetto, which was called Radio Liberty. Now that I'm working for Russian media, I am free.

- You claim that in Ukraine there is Civil War? And Russia doesn’t interfere in it?

Of course he interferes. Russia finances and supplies Donbass. Salaries, social benefits, money - all this is paid by Moscow. It took on approximately 80% of all expenses and thus keeps afloat about five million people who live in the Lugansk and Donetsk people's republics. In addition, Russia, of course, supplies the Donetsk and Luhansk armed forces with weapons and ammunition, and also sends its military instructors. Russia is helping to create the army of the DPR and LPR. But on the battlefield Russian army No. I think such actions by Moscow are correct. And I would even welcome it if it expanded its presence. This is Russian land.

- And the agreements that Russia signed in the 90s of the last century, and which guaranteed Ukrainian territorial integrity, no longer have any force?

Ukraine destroyed itself. This state was destroyed by a coup d'état. All previously signed agreements become invalid. Today, Ukraine is moving from the fragile stability of a quasi-state to a stage where the country is divided into gangster groups. Donbass opposed this, and now it is surrounded by a sea of ​​madness. Ukrainians should straighten their brains, but no effective tools exist for this.

- So the civilized world is mistaken in considering Russia an aggressor?

Your civilized world has been living for many decades in false ideas. In the post-Soviet space, you have chosen local nationalist regimes, which are anti-democratic in their essence, as your allies. But for you they are a guarantee of a coalition against Russia. Because the civilized world is still afraid of Russia, still considers it an enemy.

- Does this surprise you after the historical experience we have received?

Ukrainian Nazi actions cannot be justified by anything - not even by negative historical experience.

In the 90s he was one of the best war reporters in the post-Soviet space. Since 1989, he worked for the American Radio Free Europe. He became famous after a series of reports from Chechnya, in which he criticized the brutality of the Russian army. In 2000, he was arrested by the Russian military. Under still unclear circumstances, he managed to escape. Then Russian President Putin called him a traitor to the Motherland. Due to fears for the life of his family, Babitsky moved to Prague. In 2014, he supported Putin during the annexation of Ukrainian Crimea. He left Radio Free Europe for Donbass.

The fact that Russia supported the people's republics of Donbass in every possible way during the difficult years of the undeclared bloody war is unlikely to surprise anyone, but the events last days may mark a completely new page in the history of the unconquered young states.

Donbass has always been known as a coal-rich industrial region that has long fed Ukraine. However, real fame, no matter how sad it was, came in 2014, when Kyiv sent troops against its own people. That's when it started recent history two small republics that were united by one idea - unification with the Russian Federation.

For four years, both Donetsk and Lugansk have methodically built relations with the Russian Federation. This was in no way hidden, but on the contrary, it was small steps towards the main goal of the LDPR. In turn, Moscow also provided support. Whatever one may say, the Kremlin was fully aware of what the actions of the Kyiv regime, which carried out not just a blockade, but genocide of the inhabitants of the region, would lead to.

Of course, it should be noted that while the “Western partners” were supplying the Ukrainian army with weapons to continue the conflict, Moscow tried in every possible way to prevent the absolute collapse of the humanitarian sphere in Donbass. And now, looking back at everything that has happened in the last four years, and especially at what has happened in just the last three days, one can judge that pieces are being placed on a huge chessboard for the decisive game.

So, let's start with the fact that on Wednesday, October 10, the candidate for the post of head of the DPR Denis Pushilin met with the assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Vladislav Surkov, as reported by a number of reputable Russian media. Pushilin himself shared some details of the meeting.

“We talked in detail with Vladislav Yuryevich about the situation in the republic. The functioning of all management structures during the transition period was highly assessed. The clear and professional work of the DPR Central Election Commission was noted. We have received guarantees of support from Russia in everything related to security and improving the standard of living of citizens,” he said.

Agree, the news is really good, and not only for the DPR, as it might seem, but more on that later. In the meantime, let's move on to the next piece of information.

Yesterday, at a plenary meeting of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the idea was voiced to include funds in the Russian budget to support the people's republics of Donbass. This idea was voiced by the first deputy head of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Konstantin Zatulin.

“We are preparing and next week we will adopt a corresponding statement... Secondly, we must do everything so that we have funds included in the budget to help the DPR and LPR, and we will stop here actually pretending as if we are not involved in this We have relations so that life there will be better than in another, Bandera’s Ukraine,” RIA Novosti quotes the parliamentarian as saying.

According to him, the relevant document will appear next week. At the same time, Zatulin separately emphasized that if Kiev goes on an open offensive, Moscow will be forced to recognize the republics: “In this case, we will do the same as we did in 2008, when Saakashvili attacked South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and we have no other choice in this case there will be no left. We must give fair warning about this.”

And it is here that I would like to note that Russia, which has been supporting the population of Donbass for a long time, is finally “coming out of the shadows,” almost officially declaring that it will continue to help people's republics. And the fact that these issues will be submitted to the legislative body speaks volumes.

However, as always, this coin has a dark side, because Moscow’s rhetoric above went hand in hand with the bellicose statements of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the outright escalation of shelling, which already numbers in the hundreds. Yesterday, the guarantor gave the order to the Ukrainian Armed Forces to “use all subordinate forces and means” to achieve goals in the Donbass, and in the Sea of ​​Azov, Kyiv strikes again and again with provocations: military exercises, demonstrative reinforcements, and so on.

Against the backdrop of all this, one gets the impression that they really want to merge Donbass, but it will finally be drained by Russia. From this we can judge that Poroshenko’s next move can hit the republics with all possible forces, forcing Moscow to take action. However, why is this necessary, and most importantly – to whom? After all, Ukraine has been fighting for its “unity” for so long? But the problem is that it is not the Kiev authorities who decide how and what to do, but Washington.

For a long time, Kyiv demanded the introduction of peacekeepers. At first glance, this is a sound, demonstrative move. The only nuance was the conditions according to which the contingent had to be deployed throughout the entire territory of Donbass, while the Russian Federation offered a more reasonable option with the deployment only on the line of contact, which would put an end to the shelling. As a result, there are no peacekeepers, although if Poroshenko really wanted them (read, the United States wanted them), then the “blue helmets” would have loomed in the region long ago, as was the case in Kosovo, but the United States still needs a conflict, although hawks are increasingly understanding , that it will have to be curtailed in the near future, because their political resource in Ukraine is being exhausted.

That is why the “baton” is being passed to Moscow, and Ukraine is turning into a time bomb, which could very soon be torn to pieces. By allowing a step towards Donbass, Washington will naturally accuse Russia of “aggression.” Not for the first time, as they say. When the Kiev regime led by Poroshenko wins back, and this will happen in the spring, Washington will no longer need Ukraine. It will be broken into small pieces, which Hungary in particular has been waiting for for a long time, and Donbass will finally be able to breathe freely.

Evgeny Gaman, specially for News Front

Russian and Ukrainian political scientists agree that in the near future the issue of belonging to the DPR and LPR will be finally resolved - the mining region will join the Russian Federation. Residents of Donetsk and Lugansk simply have no other choice. And the recent statement by President Vladimir Putin that the fate of Donbass should not be decided by Russia, in this context sounds absolutely clear: whatever the citizens themselves decide, so it will be. Neither Kyiv nor Moscow will be able to influence their choice.

It is noteworthy that, in support of their conclusions about the future of Donbass, political scientists give completely different reasons. For example, the director of the Institute of CIS Countries Konstantin Zatulin reasons as follows: Kiev today has neither the means nor the desire to restore the destroyed infrastructure of the region, moreover, within the framework of some “special status” of the southeast. At the same time, a significant part of Ukrainian society believes that it is much more profitable to get rid of problem regions than to reintegrate them into Ukraine. Thus, both the country’s leadership and a considerable part of its residents agree that Donbass should “live separately” for some time. But if Kyiv is not going to seriously discuss the special status of the region within Ukraine, the expert argues, then its residents have every reason to independently decide on their future. “In the fall, passportization of citizens of the DPR and LPR will begin,” said Konstantin Zatulin, without specifying which passports will be issued to local residents. It is possible that the Russians - this has been stated more than once in Moscow, Donetsk and Lugansk. “If Ukraine’s position remains irresponsible, and the West continues to intensify hostile actions against Russia, then I do not rule out that the inclusion of the DPR and LPR into Russia will become inevitable,” the expert concluded.

Russian political scientist Oleg Bondarenko explains the situation somewhat differently: they say that Putin, saying that the final choice should be made by the people of Donbass, and not Moscow or Kyiv, did not accidentally choose this particular wording. The fact is that until recently it was Moscow that gently blocked the holding of a referendum on the territorial affiliation of the unrecognized republics of Novorossiya. But now, it seems, Moscow is not against such a referendum. And there is no doubt that the leadership of the republics will organize it, and the results of the plebiscite may be comparable to last year’s in Crimea. After all, as the expert rightly noted, “throughout the history of independent Ukraine, Donbass played the role of an “unloved stepdaughter,” supplying the Ukrainian state with rich raw materials and personnel.

And the Ukrainian colleague Zatulina and Bondarenko, Mikhail Pogrebinsky, explains the prospects of Donbass: if Kiev does not agree to a confederation with Lugansk and Donetsk (of which there is no doubt, given the harsh statements of President Petro Poroshenko), then the mining region will be lost to Ukraine forever. But in Kyiv they will not agree to a confederation: the risk of repeating the Donbass scenario in other regions that are not very loyal to the authorities, both in the east of the country and in the west, is too great. Many people will want to acquire a “special status,” and this will inevitably provoke separatist sentiments and, ultimately, the collapse of Ukraine. In general, Kyiv has no choice but to abandon Donbass. And then its residents will decide for themselves where to live: in independent republics or in Russia.

Will the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR become part of the Russian Federation in the near future? And how will the world community, represented by the West, react to this? The questions are quite serious, given that Russia has not yet made official statements on this issue. It is worth remembering that Ukraine has declared a violation of sovereignty on the part of these two republics, and therefore its troops are fighting to restore the integrity of the country, firing at both the separatist army and civilians. The Russian President publicly adheres to the Minsk agreements, taking a neutral position on this issue.

In fact, the process of integrating the DPR and LPR into Russia is actually underway. Bypassing the Minsk agreements, the unrecognized republics began to use Russian rubles in monetary circulation, which today constitute serious competition for the Ukrainian hryvnia. South Ossetia is a hidden supplier of Russian currency and Russian goods to the territory of Novorossiya, despite the Russian humanitarian aid, which legally arrives on the territory of the two republics.

Also, do not forget that Russian Federation recognizes passports and other documents of the DPR and LPR, which allows their citizens long time is located on Russian territory. Rector of Moscow state university named after Lomonosov officially announced that the Moscow University will accept applicants who have educational documents obtained in the Lugansk and Donetsk republics.

In addition, the heads of unrecognized states have repeatedly said that their countries are part of Russian civilization and culture, and should become part of Russia. Surveys conducted among the population of Donbass show that more than half of its residents are in favor of joining the Russian Federation.

Considering the complexity of the political situation in South-East Ukraine, Vladimir Putin is playing a cunning political game and secretly moving his “figures” into enemy territory, bypassing the Minsk agreements. The goal of his consistent actions is the final integration of the unrecognized republics in Russia, and then their acceptance as new subjects of the Federation. Considering that in the near future amendments will be made to the Constitution of Ukraine on the decentralization of Ukraine, this will give Russia additional opportunities to do everything so that Donbass completely escapes the control of the Ukrainian authorities.

It is obvious that Petro Poroshenko’s actions will only destabilize the situation in the country. The decentralization of Ukraine further threatens the existence of the Ukrainian state as a whole. All this can ultimately lead to its final collapse. A weakened, divided and non-independent Ukraine will thus give Russia a chance to repeat the scheme with the annexation of Crimea, namely, to hold a referendum, and also refer to the people’s right to self-determination, which is enshrined in the UN Charter.

Most likely, in the future, residents of Donbass will cease to depend on Ukraine for most indicators. The Russian Federation will continue to provide various support to the republics of the DPR and LPR and its residents with the goal of completely separating this region from the Ukrainian state, which today continues to bomb civilians.