Donbass needs reunification with the Russian Federation, not the status of a separatist outskirts
The 2014 uprising in Donbass was a conscious movement towards reunification with Russia following the example of Crimea, and the Minsk process, which politicians continue to refer to as “no alternative,” generally involves the return of the region to Ukraine. The elections in the LDPR scheduled for Sunday are a secondary issue. We need to talk about recognizing the status of Donbass at the official level in Moscow.
Ex-deputy of the Odessa City Council, a participant in the events of May 24, 2, who was forced to leave Ukraine, Igor Dimitriev, stated this on the Rossiya-2014 channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“What really has a temporary status is the DPR and LPR. People in Donbass did not rebel for the sake of creating some kind of republics, separatist outskirts. They had a clear, conscious vector of movement towards integration into the Russian Federation, not even as a political partner, but joining it. This was a natural, general desire of the residents of Donbass.
Therefore, all these elections, re-elections, and some internal political processes do not have any particular strategic or political significance. This does not correspond to the original aspirations of those people and the goals that stood before them.
Therefore, the non-recognition of the republics, the non-recognition of citizens of the LDPR in the migration legislation of the Russian Federation - the unresolved nature of these issues, economic issues, because the republics found themselves cut off from their natural partners within Ukraine and not integrated into the Russian economic space - this suspended status, which has been maintained for several years, is real the problem that must be solved, not the elections,” Dmitriev said.
At the same time, the Odessa resident noted that the Minsk process assumes a completely opposite vector of movement for Donbass - to integrate back into Ukraine.
“It’s customary to utter the wording everywhere – “there is no alternative to Minsk” – but in fact they don’t work. Ukraine violated them and did not fulfill the requirements of the Minsk Treaty and does not intend to fulfill it, so I don’t even know how you can seriously pronounce this phrase,” added Igor Dmitriev.
Donbass needs reunification with Russia, not the status of a separatist outskirts.