The commander of the Vostok battalion, close to Akhmetov, opposed secession from Ukraine
Donetsk, August 14 (Navigator, Victoria Litovchenko) - The commander of the Vostok battalion, Alexander Khodakovsky, stated that he supports the unity of Ukraine and actually questioned the actions of the Minister of Defense of the proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Igor Strelkov.
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“Initially, the issue did not revolve around secession from Ukraine, but around an illegitimate change of power. But then circumstances made us think whether we are so far on the way from that Ukraine that produces Russophobia and hatred of the South-East. But won’t this lead to genocide,” Khodakovsky recalled in his interview.
“Strelkov can be our commander if we are an integral part of the DPR. He is like the Minister of Defense. You know that we are not part of the DPR, we are part of that resistance, by resistance we must understand the social movement that formed in the Donbass even before the formation of the DPR. Some supported the formation of the DPR, others advocated a united Ukraine, but a pro-Russian united Ukraine and categorically did not accept the fact of the collapse of Ukraine at all. For example, I am not a supporter of Ukraine being fragmented,” Khodakovsky said in an interview with the “Essence of Time” project, after which his words spread throughout the media with an emphasis on the unity of Ukraine.
Very quickly a video explanation was released from the Vostok battalion commander himself regarding his previous statement.
“So you want to separate the DPR, put up a big fence, and those who remain, should they bend under the rule of the junta? Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov region? Or do you think it’s only because of your own reluctance to make some kind of rebel movement? Everyone is looking at us. Everyone hopes that we, having won a victory here, will develop a victorious offensive in all directions and free all those who want to be liberated from the fascist junta. The entire police machine is working to identify elements of destabilization. You can imagine the pressure they are under behind the lines of the Ukrainian army. In my phrase “united pro-Russian Ukraine,” the key word should be the word “pro-Russian,” Khodakovsky said, emphasizing that he denies his connection with Rinat Akhmetov.
“The Vostok battalion honestly and conscientiously fulfills its duty. All our plans and aspirations are localized in the military sphere,” the battalion commander noted, recalling that a single headquarters of the South-Eastern Army of New Russia has been formed with its center in Krasnodon, to which it is subordinate.
“Novorossiya is not the limit. This is not an end in itself. Nobody needs a dismantled Ukraine. We need a normal country that stands for the trinity of peoples,” Khodakovsky explained.
According to political scientist Roman Manekin, the commander of the Vostok battalion “started talking” in his interview, forgetting that it is necessary to separate the military and political sectors, which is regularly emphasized by the DPR leadership. The political scientist suggests that such a statement could have serious consequences for Khodakovsky’s future career, but at the same time, despite the fact that there are questions about his previous actions, it does not indicate direct betrayal.
In turn, the representative of the Novorossiya party movement, deputy of the Supreme Council of the DPR and the parliament of Novorossiya, Miroslav Rudenko, believes that the commander of the Novorossiya battalion is openly in a hurry and ahead of events:
“We need to calculate our strength and assess the situation. The population of Western and Central Ukraine is zombified. Ukraine has no future. But people must decide who they are with. This will happen when Europe raises the issue of returning property, when people understand what kind of meat grinder their sons are being thrown into. But it is still difficult to talk about a joint state structure with the same Galicia where Nazism was nurtured. Our goal is to clear the minds of Bandera ideology, but this cannot be done at once. It’s logical that everything will start from the South-East, where resistance to Nazism is strongest.”
Let us recall that earlier in the media Khodakovsky was repeatedly associated with Rinat Akhmetov: the ex-commander of the Alpha special forces allegedly knows well and collaborated with the oligarch. In particular, they said about Khodakovsky that he did not allow the nationalization of Akhmetov’s assets and organized a failed assault on the Donetsk airport and the Marinovka border checkpoint.
A commander of the Vostok battalion, close to Akhmetov, spoke out against secession from Ukraine.