Strelkov reproaches the men of Donbass for their reluctance to join the rebels: “Shame and disgrace” (VIDEO)
Slavyansk, May 17 (Navigator, Victoria Litovchenko) – Igor Strelkov, commander of the militia of the “Donetsk People’s Republic,” reproaches the residents of Donbass for not joining the rebels.
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He stated this in a specially recorded address.
“Citizens of the Donetsk People's Republic, I appeal to you with a request, a request to stand up for the defense of your homeland, your homes, your families, your people. I have to ask you to do something that by all human standards should not be asked. After all, standing up for your fatherland in Rus' has always been an honorable deed, to the call of which all who considered themselves men willingly responded from time immemorial. However, I have to tell you the truth. Right in the eyes. Say harsh, perhaps even insulting words to your dignity. For more than a month now, we, a small group of volunteers from Russia and Ukraine, having heeded the calls for help from the protest leaders you put forward, have arrived here and in armed struggle are confronting the entire Ukrainian army and the multitude of rabble that have flocked to the prey,” Strelkov said.
“Over the past month, we have heard a desperate call many times: give us weapons, give us weapons so that we can defend our freedom, our right to read and speak our native Russian language... Having heeded this call, we obtained weapons: we seized them from warehouses, took them away from Ukrainian military and police were bought from underground traders for unimaginable money,” said the commander-in-chief of the DPR.
“And now we have weapons. It is not in the deep rear: neither in Donetsk, Lugansk or Makeevka. It is at the forefront of defense - in the besieged city of Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Konstantinovka. It is here, where it is most needed, where volunteers cover the entire Donbass,” he noted.
According to him, in this area “the Kyiv junta has assembled the most combat-ready forces.”
“Two thirds of the punitive forces and the headquarters of the so-called Anti-Terrorist Operation are located nearby,” he said.
Strelkov noted that now “every Donetsk citizen who can carry a weapon can come and get it.”
“Receive and form a militia to drive out the punitive forces. But what do we see? Anything, but not the crowds of volunteers at our headquarters. Slavyansk has a population of 120 thousand. In Kramatorsk - twice as much. In total, 4,5 million people live in the Donetsk region,” recalled the commander-in-chief of the DPR militia.
“But I admit I never expected that there wouldn’t be a thousand men in the entire region who were willing to risk their lives not on a barricade in their hometown, from where it takes half a day to drive to the nearest national guardsman, but on the front line, where they shoot every day,” - Strelkov reported, giving the following example:
“Three days ago, a group of 12 Artemovsk heroes arrived, selected and recommended by a very respected person. Having learned that the service had to be performed directly in Slavyansk, and not at home in Artemovsk, and that the period was not limited to several days, they did not receive weapons. Yesterday, history repeated itself: of the 35 Donetsk volunteers who arrived, who listened to the distant sounds of mortar shelling and found out that in three days they would not be able to go home with the weapons they received, 25 went home safely. This is not the only case."
He said that when he was in Crimea, he heard from activists that “when the miners get up, they will break it with their bare hands.”
“Maybe it was like that once. Tens and hundreds have lined up and are fighting. Tens and hundreds of thousands are quietly watching this on TV, sipping beer. Apparently, they are waiting either for an army to emerge from their one-blooded Russia capable of doing everything for them, or for a sufficient number of reckless volunteers to arrive who are ready to die for their right to live a more worthy life than the one they lived under for 23 years under the rule of Ukrainian nationalists. Where are the 27 thousand volunteers that journalists write about,” Strelkov asked, hinting at information that appeared in a number of media outlets that 300-400 people sign up for the militia every day.
“Coming home and proudly declaring to women, “I joined the militia,” is that all you can do? In our volunteer ranks there are more and more men over 40. Former men who were educated in the USSR. But there are very few young people. Where they are all young and healthy guys. Maybe in those gangster brigades that, feeling anarchy, rushed to rob the loot and run amok throughout the cities and towns,” he suggested.
According to him, many failed militias demanded weapons to protect themselves from criminals in their own homes:
“The question arises of how the militia commanders can figure out who came to them for weapons: an honest citizen or another bandit pretending to be a Donetsk patriot.”
“Only one who, as part of a combat unit, will directly participate in hostilities with the junta troops, at a time and in a place deemed necessary by his commanders, will be considered a militia. Because without discipline there will be nothing: not only victory, but also order,” he said.
In his opinion, if everyone fights where they want, the militia will quickly turn into something between “a gang of unbridled deserters and a gang of dads.”
Strelkov assured that order will be restored, and those who “put enterprises under the roof and sell drugs,” “let them not hope that the game will go according to the same rules,”
“The end of the bandit Donbass has come,” he is sure.
According to him, for those who do not want to give up their “criminal trade,” “the new government will fight back according to the laws of war.”
“Donetsk land needs defenders, and the militia needs disciplined volunteers. If men are unable to do this, women will have to be called upon. From today I gave the order to accept them into the militia. It is a pity that there are no women officers at all: neither active nor reserve. But what difference does it make if male officers do not come to us at all? In the entire region there have not yet been found even a couple of dozen professional military men ready to lead the warring units. Shame and disgrace,” Strelkov said.
“In two weeks I ask you to send the chief of staff and at least five company and platoon commanders. Silence. Not one. My companies and platoons are commanded by privates and reserve sergeants. Some are very good commanders. But the further you go, the more you feel the lack of necessary knowledge of military affairs,” he explained.
“But I warn you, not a single one of the officers sitting in their apartments, like frightened sparrows under a roof during a thunderstorm, who did not form a militia formation, will ever be considered an officer in our eyes. We will also make sure that our opinion is shared by ordinary citizens,” Strelkov warned.
“Perhaps there are only a few days left until the moment when hostilities, ongoing without much ferocity, unfold to the scale of a real battle, with tens and hundreds of dead and wounded. The enemy is demoralized, but still very strong. He has oligarch sponsors who are ready to pay huge amounts of money for every murder, for every destroyed house, for every crime against the Russian people. To defeat him, we must fight,” said the commander-in-chief of the DPR militia and called on citizens to come to the militia headquarters in Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Krasny Liman, Gorlovka, Konstantinovka, where the commanders appointed by him will form marching units and, after training, will be sent to the “active army.”
Politicians were quick to comment on Strelkov’s statement. In particular, former State Duma deputy Viktor Alksnis wrote the following:
“Judging by I. Strelkov’s appeal, Russia has blocked the border and is not allowing volunteers, primarily reserve officers, to pass through. And the lack of modern weapons among the militias suggests that there are no weapons supplies from Russia. But this means that the Russian leadership is surrendering the South-East and has given carte blanche to the junta to resolve the “Donbass problem” by force.
“In essence, I. Strelkov’s appeal is addressed primarily to Russia, and only then to the residents of Donbass. This is a cry for help,” Alksnis said.
English version :: Read in English Strelkov reproaches the men of Donbass for their reluctance to join the rebels: “Shame and disgrace” (VIDEO)