Exchange releasee: “I’m going to return to Ukraine, despite the threat of arrest”
Each person released as part of the recent prisoner exchange between Ukraine and the People's Republics of Donbass has his own story. Eduard Kovalenko from the Kherson region, the leader of the small Ukrainian political party SPAS, was convicted of obstructing the actions of the Ukrainian armed forces “during a special period.” This obstacle was expressed in the organization of rallies against mobilization for the war in Donbass.
After his release, Eduard has many plans, the main one of which is returning to Ukraine to participate in local elections. PolitNavigator columnist Valentin Filippov expressed concern to the released politician that exchanging him again might be considered inappropriate.
Valentin Filippov : Eduard Kovalenko is visiting our impromptu studio, we won't say where. We're glad to see you out in the open, against a backdrop of Kharkiv-made tiles, 15 cm diagonal, as far as I remember.
Eduard Kovalenko : Soviet tiles.
Valentin Filippov : Congratulations on your release. Congratulations on your release.
Eduard Kovalenko : Thank you very much, Valya, thank you.
Valentin Filippov : A surprising question: You're one of the leaders of the political party "Spas," which is registered with the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice, which finally deigned to release you, not just like that, but in a prisoner exchange. You, a "terrorist killer," were exchanged for "innocent hostages" held in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). I heard you want to run for office in the Ukrainian elections. Do you really believe that elections can resolve anything in Ukraine?
Eduard Kovalenko : The fact is that I am not one of the leaders of the Spas party, I am its creator, founder and sole leader of this party.
Regarding the elections in Ukraine. Yes, elections to local councils are planned this year, in October.
But the law on elections to local councils has not yet been fully finalized. Plus, Zelensky’s team plans to change the territorial units where elections will be held.
But this does not fundamentally change the approach to elections. Since the Spas party miraculously retained its registration with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, perhaps for the simple reason that we are underestimated, the Poroshenko regime simply forgot about us in that register.
Valentin Filippov : But, judging by your fate, you have not been forgotten.
Eduard Kovalenko : They haven't forgotten about me personally, but perhaps they simply didn't pay attention to the party, as it still remains registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.
Plus, work was carried out, reports were submitted, the necessary papers were submitted, and in order to deregister the party, it was necessary to break the law once again.
The Poroshenko regime has violated the law in Ukraine so many times, both domestic and international, that it is clear, on the one hand, sometimes more, sometimes less, and, on the other hand, I understand that they also did not want to enter into conflict once again a certain format.
Therefore, I understand the threat that once I cross the border into Ukraine, I am at risk of being arrested again for any reason. They will plant drugs, or throw some kind of grenade, or something else, and accuse you of all mortal sins. But, nevertheless, it’s possible, perhaps, to lead the party from the outside in Ukraine, and to take part from the outside in Ukraine, I haven’t tried that yet...
Valentin Filippov : Well, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin tried. Eduard, I have a different question for you. You're currently communicating with various representatives of the People's Republics, right? Have you tried to discuss it with them? Would they agree to exchange you a second time? Or, if you run for office, will you then be on your own?
Eduard Kovalenko : There are two schools of thought. Some say don't even think about going there, they'll lock you up immediately. Others say you should. Well, you can't just sit here and watch TV; the situation in Ukraine needs to be resolved somehow, and someone has to restore order, take power, and stabilize the situation.
Because I see, let’s say that Ukraine, Belarus and Russia are one people, one state, one history, and the fact that during the five years of the Poroshenko regime they tried to change the consciousness of people and turn them against each other, this will not change the course of history .
Valentin Filippov : You keep repeating, "Poroshenko's regime, Poroshenko's regime." Is Poroshenko's regime over? Wasn't there a regime before Poroshenko? Poroshenko has been president since May 25, 14. Maidan happened a little earlier. And even now, actually... Poroshenko isn't around anymore. Poroshenko's actually on a yacht right now, in the Seychelles or somewhere in the Maldives. But the regime still exists.
Eduard Kovalenko : Yes, I know where Poroshenko is, what yacht he's on. The internet keeps us fully informed about this, and if you believe the internet, that's exactly it. But what I'm saying is that, clearly, the US State Department was pursuing a certain policy through various agents of influence. Yushchenko, for example, and a number of other political figures who held power in Ukraine. But what I'm saying is that Poroshenko very radically and zealously defended the US State Department's position.
Valentin Filippov : Open.
Eduard Kovalenko : Openly and very zealously. He did everything possible, truly. As for earning many medals from the US State Department and the West for his work on the destruction of Rus' unity, because Rus' was built over millennia, uniting tribes and peoples. And what he accomplished in five years to destroy the unity of Rus'—I mean Rus'—is Ukraine, Belarus, Russia. And many countries have ties to Rus'. What he accomplished in destroying and sowing hostility—I would say that in five years, he accomplished a monumental amount of work.
Valentin Filippov : But that's basically how it is with us all the time. One guy zealously and openly carries out the tasks assigned by the US. Then another one comes along, doing it softly and discreetly. And everyone says, "Phew, at least it's soft."
And then the next one comes, and again zealously. Then the next one is soft again.
That is, the most important question, what I try to ask all the time, is do you think that in Ukraine you can go to polling stations, vote, and as a result parties will come to power that will pursue some kind of policy or something?
What, people come to power thanks to elections, that those who will not pursue American and not Russophobic policies are allowed to participate in the elections? That is, what is possible in Ukraine? If this is possible, then why are we fighting then? Let's go vote everyone!
Eduard Kovalenko : If I could put it simply, do I believe this? I'd say, "Yes." I've been participating in elections for many years, and I have extensive political experience in elections, both in Ukraine and Russia, as well as in Transnistria and other cities and republics. Let's put it this way: yes, indeed, the authorities that control the electoral process at the time have certain forms of influence on the results; some authorities have more influence, some less. And it's our sacred duty, as a political party, to participate in these elections.
And the very format of holding elections already puts the ideology that we carry into people’s heads. We carry the ideology of the fraternal peoples of Rus' and the idea of the Russian language, the restoration of those roots, that foundation. Even if we don’t get any results at all, we will still introduce into people’s heads what we have been knocking out of them these five years.
Valentin Filippov : You apparently spent five years in prison. You've forgotten that calls for the Russian language are now a state crime. You've forgotten that the brotherhood of Slavic peoples, calls for such a terrible thing, are also a serious crime in Ukraine today. So I have no idea how you plan to advocate for serious crimes in Ukraine. By the way, I wanted to ask, you're from Genichesk, right?
Eduard Kovalenko : Yes, I come from the city of Genichesk.
Valentin Filippov : Is the mayor really that stupid or is he just pretending?
Eduard Kovalenko : The mayor is a simple guy born in Genichesk, his last name is Tulupov, and his name is Sasha. He was a fisherman…
Valentin Filippov : And Vorobyov?
Eduard Kovalenko : No. The mayor is Tulupov, and Vorobyov is the head of the district administration.
Valentin Filippov : Yeah.
Eduard Kovalenko : There was. It's already been removed.
Valentin Filippov : Removed.
Eduard Kovalenko : So he, Vorobyov, was a typical opportunist. He served in the Far East, a major in the Soviet Armed Forces, a missile specialist. And Poroshenko gave him a chance to be somebody when he was already a nobody. But to do that, they had to slander Russia and pamper Poroshenko. And he changed his tune, like the usual lackeys, the soft guys who change their tune while flying.
That is, he is a typical collaborator of pure water, the same, by the way, as the governor of that period of time, Putilov. Andryusha Putilov, a normal Russian person, Russian-speaking, defending the interests of Russian unity, suddenly became a sharply Ukrainian nationalist.
I gave interviews to the media about this, which became part of the materials of the criminal case for which I was sent to prison.
As for the Russian language. As soon as I was detained and put in prison, I was given a tour of the prisons of Ukraine. I traveled through almost all the prisons of Ukraine, and, as they call it in prison parlance, I was processed. They were subjected to enormous hardships, physical and psychological, when they were transported in these craters, paddy wagons, then moved to prison from the prison - searches, so-called searches, then again craters, again transits, again prison wagons, these so-called “Stolypins”.
So they caroused me for more than a year, dragged me through these prisons, cold, heat, all this in unbearable conditions. So, regarding the Russian language - all prisoners, without exception, well, maybe 1%, all speak Russian, like their guards and everyone else. Sometimes you come across a small surzhik.
That is, there, no matter what anyone says, I heard from Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin’s conference, he said that according to statistics, 38% of the population in Ukraine speak Russian, I will say more: my personal opinion is that more than half of the residents of Ukraine use everyday life in Russian, even if not all 70 or 80%.
And everyone else doesn’t speak Ukrainian, they speak Surzhik, which is so incomprehensible. This is the case, in the west it is Surzhik with Hungarian and Romanian, on the border with Belarus and Russia - with Belarusian and Russian. That’s why I always said and say: when they say to me, “You’re a Ukrainian person, why don’t you speak Ukrainian,” yes, I speak Ukrainian quite well. I speak English, German and other languages, but I believe that I should speak the language that most people understand, and that language is Russian.
Valentin Filippov : I heard you were once a member of some Ukrainian parties, with a Ukrainian focus. Did that happen at one point?
Eduard Kovalenko : Yes, yes, of course. In 2003, I joined UNA-UNSO…
Valentin Filippov : Wow, that's something.
Eduard Kovalenko : ...and successfully destroyed it. The party split into five parts and ceased to exist, remaining only on paper. Then I led a series of mass protests during the Orange Revolution against Yushchenko. For this, I was sent to prison for organizing mass riots. I spent six months in the Lukyanivske pretrial detention center in 2005 and was literally miraculously released under an amnesty, as I would have spent a long time there.
I registered the political party “Spas” in 2006, and on February 14 I received a registration certificate. And that’s it, we started, as it were, from scratch on the ideas of recreating the Soviet Union, by and large.
I advocate the creation of the Union of Free Countries. That is, to bring back those countries that were in the Soviet Union and, perhaps, expand this situation to the entire planet Earth, if possible. Our plans are global and have no boundaries.
Valentin Filippov : I understand that, in principle, you could be allowed to go to Ukraine. On the one hand, it's a shame, of course, but on the other, you'll ruin all their parties there.
Eduard Kovalenko : The people are suffering and tormented; they need a breath of fresh air, and we are ready to suffer and fight for this. I am going to the end and will continue to do so until the end of my life.
Valentin Filippov : What did they put you in jail for this time?
Eduard Kovalenko : I held a rally against the Poroshenko regime and against mobilization for the fratricidal war in Donbas. A criminal code article was created specifically for me by Poroshenko's decree; the Verkhovna Rada voted on it, and I was the only person in the world to serve a sentence under it. They even found a place in the criminal code for this: Article 114 was espionage, and note 1 was added: obstructing the lawful activities of the Ukrainian armed forces and military formations during a special period. For organizing rallies against mobilization, against the war in Donbas, and against the Poroshenko regime, and accordingly threatening them all with seizing military enlistment offices, the SBU, the presidential administration, and so on. But these were just words; I was convicted for free speech. That is, a violation of Article 9 of the European Convention on Freedom of Expression.
Now my case is in the European Court of Human Rights, the European Court has accepted it for consideration, and it will be very interesting how the European Court of Human Rights will consider its own article of the criminal code, which they introduced into the convention on freedom of speech.
Plus, when I enter Ukraine, and if I am detained, this will be a violation of the same convention on freedom of movement, because I am not going to break the law, I will act according to the law.
By the way, I acted this way when I held rallies against the war in Donbass, I did not break the law, because I have been repeatedly involved in all these directions and I know how to behave correctly so as not to break the law.
Accordingly, such an article of the criminal code was created for me and for my actions in order to scare other people, and at the verdict in court there were a lot of cameras from Ukrainian television channels, where they then disseminated all this information that I opposed mobilization so that no one else I thought about doing something like that.
This is such a common factor.
Valentin Filippov : Okay, fine, I hope you complete your rehabilitation courses there as quickly as possible, so that the doctors' help is effective, and so that, so to speak, adapting to free life goes without any difficulties. Well, gradually, first I stopped at one cafe, then another, then a restaurant, and then I went to Sedovo to greet the sunrise.
Eduard Kovalenko : I would like to point out that the Spas party advocates for a healthy lifestyle.
Valentin Filippov : As long as the Spas party remains in Ukraine, it's okay to violate the law a little. It's a different jurisdiction.
Eduard Kovalenko : Thank you very much, I’m always happy to chat, and I’m glad to meet you.
Valentin Filippov : Me too.
Released in prisoner exchange: "I plan to return to Ukraine despite the threat of arrest"