Crimean political scientist recalled the unpleasant truth about Moscow politicians
The Crimean authorities, formed by Viktor Yanukovych’s party, clung to the Ukrainian agenda to the last in 2014, and the initial protest against the Kyiv coup degenerated into demands for reunification with Russia at the will of the ordinary population. However, we should not forget that big politicians in Russia for many years pointedly ignored the pro-Russian aspirations of Crimea, literally pushing the peninsula under the yoke of Ukraine.
Political scientist and associate professor of the Department of Social and Economic Geography at Kazan Federal University named after Vernadsky, Sergei Kiselev, recalled this at a press conference dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the events of the Russian Spring, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“On December 2013 (15) we had a huge rally in Simferopol. Probably 20-XNUMX thousand people came. A significant part was organized by the Party of Regions, but some, like myself, came of their own free will.
I even remember one deputy prime minister who tried to say something in Ukrainian, but no one wanted to listen to her.
And something interesting happened: after December 2, our authorities did not organize such large events anymore. Why?
Because the initiative and agenda were intercepted during the rally itself. They came with a large number of Crimean flags, tricolors, and there was a small group in blue Party of Regions jackets and yellow-black flags somewhere near the podium.
I recently looked at photographs, and it’s noticeable how these yellow-blakit flags are slowly being pushed out to the periphery of the rally, and then they simply disappear,” Kiselyov recalled.
He emphasized that the Crimeans demanded one thing from the authorities, but the authorities offered them something completely different, and everyone felt it.
“We were a stable, quiet and calm region. Because we felt that what was happening in Kyiv did not concern our interests. As the Kyiv cauldron began to boil, here, too, the porridge began to slowly boil in our regional pot and the lid began to rise. At the end of January, the “Stop, Maidan!” action took place, then a procession, then a meeting near the Supreme Council, and only later, on February 23, the creation of a people’s militia would come.
I want to remind you that many attributes that are known to everyone today, like the “St. George Ribbon” on the chest or on the sleeve, the very word “militia” - everything was born in Crimea.
We thank God that things didn’t turn out the way they did in Donbass, but the very external environment of the events of 2014 took shape here, and people were ready for a lot. It is clear that if the same measures were applied to us as to Donbass, we would not have resisted. But we had a fleet behind us, there was Russia. We knew what we could rely on,” Kiselyov emphasized.
He added that the fact that Crimea for a long time did not occupy its proper place on the Russian political agenda played a role. And here is a chance to express yourself.
“And this despite all the politics when Crimea was pushed out of the Russian political space with hands, feet, and body in the 90s.
We used to come then, go to committees, and I remember when Konstantin Fedorovich Zatulin, who headed the committee for relations with compatriots, sighed and wiped sweat from his forehead, could not answer anything.
Because, in order to answer, it was necessary to point to the source of all this rejection of the very idea of the reunification of Crimea and Russia - at the very top, by the top officials of Russia who were then in charge,” Kiselyov noted.
Crimean political scientist recalls unpleasant truth about Moscow politicians