What will make the Kremlin change its tactics in Donbass. New "Airport" near Donetsk. And how much Russia spends on "LuhanDon". Listen and read in the "Occupation"
What for do "republics" threaten the West with war? Why has industrial area near Avdeyevka become a new "Airport"? What is the balance between exports and imports in the DPR? Militant Motorola turns out to be a jurist and constitutionalist. - You can hear answers to these and other topical questions of the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the latest Sergey Garmash’s radio programme "Occupation".
New "Airport" near Donetsk
The main event that defines today's life on the occupied territories is certainly escalation of hostilities on the boundary line between the pro-Russian militants and Ukrainian military. The situation was described like that by "DPR" militant Alexander Matyushin fighting under the call sign Varyag.
Audio: "There is aggravation. Almost the entire front line is under fire, it is the line of contact, which is now, in fact, the border with Ukraine. The hottest spots are Gorlovka and Zaitsevo districts. As well as Yasinovataya post area, tense clashes, shelling ... The casualties are quite considerable in the area of Yasinovataya post. Last week 10 people were killed there. That industrial area. Our troops left it long ago. Now Ukrainians captured it and we have to fight for it, suffering casualties."
In his turn, Vostok battalion commander Alexander Khodakovsky wrote on Friday on his website that the casualties of the Vostok in the hostilities in the period from March 07th to April 7th were ninety people injured and thirteen people killed. "The main casualties were in the Industrial area between Yasinovataya and Avdeyevka which, as fighters define, has become "the second airport". I don’t have data on casualties of other units, but I guess there are some,"- wrote Khodakovsky.
In this case, the leader of Vostok notes the senselessness of these deaths.
"People started to compare the airport and industrial area recently - when it became clear that the strategic value of the site was little and the main motivator for the soldiers and officers was stubborn desire not to give a piece of their territory. The reasons that prompted us to intensify in this direction have already been exhausted: to push the opponents to their traditional position to secure Donetsk-Gorlovka route. They have been exhausted because now it is clear that this segment of the road will no longer be safe until the war is over or until a sustainable truce. They shoot with everything, including heavy caliber, turning asphalt into the hodgepodge of crushed stone and bitumen and even if now the enemy is pushed away - it will not change the situation,"- notes Khodakovsky.
At the same time, the leader of Vostok said that official propaganda of the DPR underestimated the true casualty figures. "We somehow have established a tradition to hide the true casualty figures," - he wrote.
Why the war is needed ...
Meanwhile authorities of the pseudo republics continue to prepare psychologically the people on the territories under their control to war. The head of the MSS of the LPR Pasechnik made a statement that Ukraine was preparing subversive groups and not in a random place, but in Georgia.
Audio: "The personnel consists of criminals from Georgia, Ukraine and the former CIS countries."
In Donetsk following Zakharchenko who said three weeks ago that the war would begin "as soon as the land dries", a frightening forecast was given by "official hero of the republic" Russian Motorola.
"I think hostilities will resume in the very moment when the ground is dry."
His colleague on the "heroism", holder of the "Golden Star of the DPR" Givi gave even more profound prediction:
Audio: "Ukraine will not just leave Donbass. There will be war. Maybe yes, maybe no. All hope for Minsk agreements."
There is no need to be a prophet to predict that there will be a war in Donbass. Either permanent and of low intensity as it is now or in the form of global military operations. Both Ukraine and the so-called LPR-DPR supported by Russia claim the same territory. Accordingly, in order to get what you want, one of the parties must lose and the other one win. All the rest is evil. There is no other logic, whether we like it or not.
The issue is that the objectives of the parties are different: someone needs to liberate their land and someone wants to receive the next portion of the Kremlin support through military action.
That is, Ukraine needs military action to liberate its territory and its citizens and the separatists need war for the sake of war. Because they themselves being against Ukraine are not the players. And they need massive death and destruction to make Moscow help them. It was told by already mentioned militant Alexander Matyushin under the call sign Varyag in his interview to Novorossia.
Audio: "Will reaction of the Russian authorities change on the occasion of the resumption of hostilities? - I think, probably, yes because a gloomy picture will come from Donbass, civilians will die again, there will be lacerated corpses again, we will see a new Gorlovka Madonna, something else. As cynical as it may sound: Russian government may change its tactics and strategy in Donbass only because of great sacrifice and much blood."
West, be afraid!
As you can see, the pro-Russian militants are interested in large losses and serious destruction among their people, that they, in fact, made the hostages. But at the same time, great scholar Motorola – obviously he is a jurist and historian - referring to as many as three constitutions states that the terrorists are in Kiev.
Audio: "According to three constitutions ... The definition of terrorism. Who the terrorists are. And what self-proclaimed. According to three constitutions of Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the United States of America, the people who are sitting now in Kiev, as written in these Constitutions, are terrorists."
I think it is needless to say that no constitution in the world contains a definition of terrorism. To do this, there are separate laws. But how should the Rostov mechanic who decided to shoot on safari in neighboring Ukraine know that. The problem is that the head of the so-called "People's Republic of Donetsk" is not a more educated person than Motorola. Here is how Alexander Zakharchenko commented on discussions of Ukrainian President and the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the possibility of bringing in peacekeeping police mission to Donbass.
Audio: "Well, at first, you need a tripartite decision. Secondly, I did not discuss with Ban Ki-moon options of bringing in police missions. And even more, there are no police mission in Minsk agreements which should help resolve the armed conflict here."
Interestingly, the video spread on the basis of this press conference by the Ministry of Information of the DPR has no words that "we need a tripartite solution". Apparently ministerial clerks, in contrast to the head of the republic, understand that the DPR cannot be the third party in the negotiations with the President of Ukraine and the UN. At least, because the self-proclaimed republic is not a member of this organization. Well, in general, then it is necessary to speak about the fourth side - "the LPR", but comrade Zakharchenko, apparently, does not consider it to be the party and it can hurt companions in Luhansk.
Heads of delegations of pseudo republics in Minsk Contact Group - Denis Pushilin and Vladislav Deynego commented on the possibility of bringing in police peacekeeping mission in Donbass in a more protocol way, but also more aggressive. One of the separatist channels quotes them.
Audio: "The creation of an armed international police force to ensure the security of elections, which is repeatedly said by Poroshenko, is not provided by the Minsk agreements, and directly contradicts with them, attempts to bring in international armed personnel to the territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republic will not add stability, but on the contrary – will turn into large-scale clashes, a real war in which countries of the West will be directly involved."
As you can see, the possibility of introducing PEACEMAKING mission in war-torn land has caused serious resistance from the leaders of the DPR, LPR. If such mission starts, they threatened and I quote, with "a real war in which countries of the West will be directly involved." Apparently, they think that the population on the territories they captured doesn’t need peace.
Frustrated "republic". In the beginning was the lie
Another global event was the second anniversary of the proclamation of the DPR and LPR. In other words, on April 7th, 2014 a group of aggressive youths with the support of obsessed women - I have the right to say so, I was there and saw everything - captured the Donetsk Regional Administration and proclaimed "the People's Republic". These people who identified themselves as the delegates from all the cities of Donetsk region adopted the "Declaration on the Sovereignty of the People's Republic of Donetsk" and signed the "Act on the proclamation of state independence of the Donetsk People's Republic".
Today I want to laugh and cry at the same time when reading these documents. Firstly, because they base their legitimacy on "provisions of the United Nations Charter". Secondly, because they expressed and I quote: "the will of the multinational people of Donetsk region". Although, at that moment, nobody asked about the will of the people and nobody elected the "delegates". Thirdly, because initially the whole idea of the so-called "Russian Spring" was not independence but the desire of pensioners and police to receive Russian pensions and salaries. In the interview given by former chairman of the People’s Council of the DPR, the oldest, we can say, separatist of Donetsk region Andrey Purgin admitted and I quote:
"I've never seen the Donetsk People's Republic as a certain autonomous state that is separate from Russia and the Russian world. Today, attempts to create some kind of "Donetsk nationality" are beyond the rationality. Donetsk and Luhansk must move towards total unification today. People stood not for the establishment of the individual republics. I have the right to talk about it because I have been actively engaged in defending the Donetsk sub-ethnic community for the past 10 years. And I, more than anyone else, know its value. But we must understand that the establishment of the Donetsk State in the XXI century is simply impossible. It is an attempt to turn back the wheel of history,"- end of the quotation.
That is, the DPR and LPR were initially a trick, a political strategy.
Maybe that’s why the idea of state independence of the DPR, LPR has not stroke root on the occupied territories. One of the separatist Donetsk resources posted a survey of students how they see the future of the DPR. Let us listen to fragments of this video:
Audio: "What will the Donetsk People's Republic, in your opinion, be like in 5-120 years? - Powerful, serious. It will be a part of Russia.
- If it still gets the external support like now, I think the country will be quite independent and strong. I think that it will be a separate state.
- Will it be a separate state or a part of the Russian Federation? -Of Course, it would like it to be a part of the Russian Federation, so that we are dependent on someone and somebody helps us. Well, I do not know then.
- I think everything is going for the best and probably literally in 5 years everything will be as before. I would like it to become a part of the Russian Federation, but ... ".
As you can see, students associate the best in Donetsk with that what was before, that is, in Ukraine. But they hope to reach it in 5 years ...
And what is wrong in their pro-Russian presence?
Simple fact: The highest salaries and pensions in the "DPR" for the past year are recorded in occupied Zhdanovka. It is shown by the results of implementation of the "Programmes of reconstruction and development of the economy and social sphere of cities and districts of the republic for 2015" released on the website of the Ministry of Economic Development of the so-called "DPR".
It states that the richest citizens are Zhdanovka residents: salary of one full-time employee is on average 10,850 rubles (about 4018 UAH). And the lowest salaries, according to the "report", are recorded in Gorlovka - 4685 rubles (1735 UAH). In Donetsk the average salary is about 6782 rubles (2500 UAH).
As you can see, salaries in the "People's Republic" are clearly anti-national.
There is no money in the republics. One of the programmes of the separatist channel Union stated the following figures:
Audio: "10 billion rubles. It is the amount of imports into our country. The situation with export is worse - only 1 billion rubles."
That is, the economy on the occupied territories almost doesn’t work. They have nothing to sell, except for coal and scrap metal, but you cannot sell them legally on the unrecognized territories. The proportion of imports and exports 1 to 10 clearly shows the economic inability to feed republics on their own. Where do they take money from? – Clearly from Russia. The Russian budget spends about $ 2 billion a year on the support of the puppet regimes in eastern Ukraine. 27 billion Russian rubles were spent on pensions alone in the DPR (not including Luhansk) for the year. Chairman of the Pension Fund of the DPR Galina Sagaydakova told about that.
Audio: "During this period, the calendar year, we spent about 27 billion Russian rubles on pensions. About 668,000 pensioners are registered at the Pension Fund at the moment. The amount has increased by exactly 150 thousand compared to April 1st, 2015".
That is, Donbass is very expensive for Putin. But Russia is experiencing a crisis now. It cannot always feed the parasites. That is why last week there appeared information about a document which makes the separatists "cut subsidized payments by 45-50%."
Thus, the burden on the local population will increase. For example, the so-called customs. Previously, people could transport goods and cargo by paying only to the corrupt military at checkpoints, now the DPR introduced double tariff at the customs.
Audio: "The customs posts on the borders with Ukraine work in a full mode and profits from their activities contribute to the republican budget regularly."
- Irina Ignatenko - head of the so-called "Ministry of Income and Fees of the DPR" boasted of results of their work.
Last week Alexander Zakharchenko had to justify the abolition of the decree which forbade to disconnect those who do not pay from utility services. Now they will disconnect malicious defaulters. Again the reason is that pseudo republics need money.
Audio: "The decree reminds our people of the fact that they have the responsibility to the state, too."
But the saddest thing for the people on the occupied territories is that Russia, unfortunately, is not interested in improving the life in the DPR-LPR. The Kremlin clearly understood that it would have to return Donbass to Ukraine. Because of the sanctions pressure it has fewer economic resources to carry out this war for a long time. It is just playing for time to destroy the economy of the region as a commercial rival of the Russian economy. Therefore, Moscow is interested in the economic degradation of the region. Therefore, the largest industrial region of Ukraine became essentially agrarian with small trade.
It's so obvious. It is a pity that ordinary people in Donetsk and Luhansk don’t want to understand that. Militant leaders understand that. They hurry to grab what they can. For example, corruption in the "DPR" is at the "enormous level". Former chairman of the "People’s Council of the DPR" Andrey Purgin claims that. Let me quote a fragment of his interview to Svabodnaya Pressa: "Of course, the reasons for the sorry state of the economy are certain names. As far as I know, there are now committees to fight against corruption which is at the enormous level now ...".
By the way, the so-called "Prosecutor General of the DPR" announced in Donetsk the arrest of the first deputy head of the so-called "administration" of the city Igor Ponomarenko. He was arrested on April 1st for taking bribes. As they say, caught in the act.
Before the "Russian Spring" Ponomarenko served as chief of the City Bureau of Technical Inventory (BTI). Since the first days of the so-called "Russian Spring" in Donetsk he supported separatists’s actions. Igor Ponomarenko is also known as the husband of the artist Tatiana Ponomarenko-Leverash, who was a favorite one among the former "Donetsk elite" and now is very active in Russia.
The scale of corruption in the DPR, LPR is described by an interesting fact. There is no shortage of fuel in Luhansk now. Although on March 28th Deputy Minister of Fuel, Energy and Coal Industry of the LPR Sergey Romanov announced the following figures at the staff meeting of the so-called "Council of Ministers": in March only 3,700 tons of fuel were imported to the LPR when 9,600 tons were needed. That is only 30% of the needs. But in this case there is no fuel deficiency. There is a simple conclusion, which, by the way, "the head of the republic" Plotnitsky made - 70% of fuel were imported to the so-called LPR illegally due to smuggling ...
OstroV, Public Radio of Donbass