Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1528235
immense costs as a result. At the same time, the history of the "people's republics" and their armies is the story of how a group of naive rebels, backed by petty criminals and Russian money, started a real "Russian revolution" proclaiming the idea of building a better Russia on Donbas soil. Over time, the Russian state increased its involvement in the conflict both militarily and politically, gradually destroying every trace of independence within the local pro-Russian groups. This true tragicomedy is best exemplified by the fact that some of the leaders of the so-called Russian revolution in Donbas in 2014 are now considered dangerous to the regime in Russia itself. They are seen as activists critical of Putin, whose activities the Russian authorities continue to suppress, occasionally imprisoning or physically eliminating them. Stage I. Before the Storm First of all, let's consider what these groups, which later transformed into the "Donbas People's Militia," were based on. What was the political and social situation in Donbas before the events of 2014? Donbas is a post-industrial region with a strong Soviet mentality and nostalgia for the former glory of this "working- class" region during the Soviet Union - this is the first thing to grasp and understand here. Donbas is often incorrectly labeled as a traditionally pro-Russian region with a large ethnically Russian population. This is misleading, as the region is a prime example of successful Soviet social engineering, which aimed to ethnically mix various nationalities and create a new "Soviet peoples" community. Ethnically, Donbas is a blend of Ukrainian rural areas and newly established industrial centers inhabited by Russians, Ukrainians from all over the country, Tatars, Greeks, Armenians, and even Koreans and Vietnamese. What united these people was a newly force-fed Soviet identity, based on communist propaganda about the unity of nations and the glory of the proletariat working in factories and mines. The collapse of Soviet industry in the 1990s created a general negative attitude toward Kyiv, which was blamed for the decline of Donbas industry. Those residents of Donbas who favored integration with Russia weren't dreaming of today's Russia but of a return to the past and the restoration of the region's industrial glory from Soviet times. Of course, this is impossible today and was never a goal for Russia. The war Russia has waged for the past 10 years in this region has completely destroyed even the remnants of the chemical, metallurgical, and mining industries that still existed at the end of 2013. Russia skillfully exploited the emotions of local residents to pursue its objectives, which were far removed from the local community's dreams. Another crucial point to understand is that Donbas has traditionally been the least socially active region in Ukrainian social and political life. Bottom-up social and political ANALISYS