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Street Roots • Aprii 17-23, 2015 News SUPPLIES, fro m p age 5 sent to his homeland, including wrapped presents for children at Christmas, clothing, potatoes and military uniforms. “Volunteers have dressed the army,” he says. For him, the conflict hit close to home in June when two of his cousins were tortured and killed by pro-Russian separatists after being kidnapped from an Easter festival at their church in Slavyansk. He says he has fond childhood memories of playing with them at Sunday school and in his grandfather’s hayfields during summer vacations. They had remained in contact through the years, and even more so during the conflict. Neither of his cousins was politically involved in the conflict, but they were targeted because of their Protestant faith, he says. Mitkov-Baklanovsky says he speaks regularly with soldiers fighting on the front lines. “My friends, who are ethnically Russian and Russian speakings are fighting for Ukraine. I speak to them through Skype, so I see the war real time,” he says. He often Skypes with soldier Leonid Maslov. Maslov served in the Soviet Army 30 years ago, and he has since become a lawyer and mathematician. He left his family and life in Kharkov, in northeast Ukraine, to fight with the Ukrainian army after the conflict began last year. He corresponded with Street Roots via email about his choice to return to battle and how his American friend has helped his unit. His emails were translated from Russian to English. “I did not abandon comfort and to risk my put of any courageous effort but from CONFLICT, fro m page 5 citizens as Ukrainian patriots, yet both are in the minority; the majority of people simply don’t care who wins. They just want peace and stability, though it doesn’t seem to occur to them that if the separatists take control by force, they will have neither. Incidentally, the most active Ukrainian patriots are small and medium- size business owners, who show their loyalty by helping the Ukrainian army and trying their best to “Ukrainify” life in the Russian-speaking and generally pro-Russian cities of the region. They organize social events featuring well-known Ukrainian journalists, writers, poets, musicians and singers. Such events naturally attract a pro- Ukrainian- audience, but they have also given patriotic citizens the opportunity to develop a . network of like-minded individuals and encouraged them to take action together, to promote Ukrainian culture and a sense of community in these previously quiet and passive industrial . towns and cities of Donbas. The atmosphere in Kiev, 800 km (about 500 miles) from Donetsk, has also changed dramatically over the past year. Entrepreneurs and office workers, who made the move to the Ukrainian capital from Donetsk some time ago, have been joined by large numbers of genuine refugees who have lost their houses and apartments in Donbas. Around 3,500 children from refugee families started school in Kiev on Sept. 1 last year. Kiev has also seen an influx of “criminal ■ Page 7 Leonid Maslov, a former Soviet soldier, now fights with the Armed Forces o f Ukraine in Schastya, about 100 miles northeast of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. His platoon relies on medical supplies sent by his friend M ikhail Mitkov- Baklanovsky. Refugee crisis escalates along with the fighting BY LUDMILA ALIYEVA STREET PAPER KYIV EXCLUSIVE FOR STREET ROOTS F | Ahe first refugees or so-called internally displaced persons JL appeared in Ukraine a year ago after the annexation of the Crimea in March 2014. These were mainly Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars. The next wave followed after the events in the east of the country, with separatists proclaiming Ludmila the independence of Luhansk Ah>t>0 is the an(j Donetsk regions, editor threatening the pro-Ukrainian c ie/o/ minded people. After the « X t f / X beginning of the anti-terrorist operation by the Ukrainian government, the military interactions started between the separatists, supported by weapons from Russia and the government’s troops. As the battles grew fiercer, the situation of the local inhabitants grew worse. The shortage of food in the stores followed. Problems began with supply of gas, electricity and water. The transport infrastructure hardly functioned or was completely destroyed in some places. The industry, banks and businesses had to close down, as did schools, kindergartens, in Ukraine the fear of what might happen as a result of continued occupation of Ukraine,” he writes. “I do not want my wife and children to lose their freedom and lose Ukraine. I am ethnically Russian, but I do not want to live in Putin’s Russia — that would be worse than a death sentence. I can remember life in the communist Soviet Union all too well to understand that I never will go back there.” He says the war with Russia began unexpectedly. “The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine was definitely not ready for it,” he writes. “They still do not have the capability to provide first aid kits to the soldiers. But there was a miracle that no one was expecting! The Ukrainian army has been supported by volunteers, both locally and globally.” He believes the medical supplies sent by Mitkov-Baklanovsky might just make his platoon the envy of other armies. “Unfortunately, not all soldiers of Ukraine have such ultramodern medical goods, but somehow each soldier has a guardian angel as Mikhail,” Maslov writes. “Without such angels, defending our country would be impossible.” emily@streetroots.org refugees” from Donhas. Almost the entire, criminal population of the region hasmigrated to Ukraine’s larger . cities, the majority to Kiev. Why? Because after killing a number of high-profile drug dealers in Donetsk, the separatists have moved on to shooting thieves at the scene of their crime. In the wake of this wave of “criminal migration/* domestic burglaries, muggings and car theft in Kiev have almost tripled. This city of 4 million inhabitants, formerly considered one of the most peaceful capital cities in the world, is no longer such a safe place to be. The situation is further exacerbated by volunteers returning from Donbas, who are attempting to smuggle weapons back with them. Those who have experienced the horrors of War are prone to developing , mental health issues/- and if you throw a hand grenade into the mix, there’s á high chance it will explode. Grenades and other arms and ammunition are gradually spreading throughout Ukraine. Transport police officers recently stopped a car heading into Kiev and found that it was carrying 18 grenade launchers. This car had managed to get from the combat zone . to the outskirts of the capital of Ukraine, passing about 20 checkpoints on the way. Some of these illicit weapons will be distributed among the criminal fraternity, but the rest will be kept at home by ordinary civilians, “just in cáse.” Russia continues to pump Donbas full of arms, staking everything on the economic collapse óf Ukraine. It is certainly true that more and more people are expressing their comer, Putin has no hope of ever regaining dissatisfaction with the situation and there the trust of Western heads of state. In are increasing calls for a third Maidan, for portraying the West as the enemy, he has an uprising against President Poroshenko led Russia back to her Soviet past. Russia’s and the Cabinet of Ministers. The IMF’s foreign policy is currently all about forming recent decision to grant Ukraine a four- alliances with fellow outcast nations. Last year loan has come at just the right time week, for example, the Ministry of Foreign for the Ukrainian government It will Affairs declared 2015 to be a “year of enable Ukraine to protect its currency friendship” between Russia and North from further devaluation and strengthen Korea, Moves such as this seem control over its own economy. deliberately calculated to emphasize Ñevertheless, social protests are more or Russia’s anti-European status, versus the less inevitable as gas and electricity prices “Europeanness” of Ukraine. are set to triple or even quadruple in the At some point, Russia will have to repair near future, and this will also lead to a relations with the West, which currently lie sharp rise in food prices. in tatters. But this is a task for another What matters most is that these president, not Putin. When the time comes, increases in the cost of living are the best way for Russia to restore ties with accompanied by tangible government the civilized world will be to resume normal reforms, so that the Ukrainian people are diplomatic relations with Ukraine, including able to feel, that the country is genuinely the restoration of her territorial integrity. changing, that the fight against corruption It is hard to say exactly when this will is taking effect. For the time being, happen, but it is only a matter of time. All Ukrainian society is sufficiently united to wars come to an end eventually; old resist both Russian propaganda and calls wounds heal and waning nations reconcile, for direct action against the government. as has happened in Europe time and again, The party least interested in peace in 'Hus time, Europe has a vested interest in Donbas is Russia. This stands to reason: the stabilization of the situation both in When the war in Donbas is over, Donbas and in Ukraine in general, given international attention will shift to the that Ukraine shares a border with several other main aspect of the Ukraine conflict .*• Russia’s annexation of Crimea. President EU member countries and is a potential member herself. Ukraine will never go back Putin admitted recently in an interview to being a satellite state of the Russian aired on Russia’s main state TV channel Federation. In which case she has only one that he had set his plans for annexation in way forward, only one choice — and that is motion even before the Crimean Europe. referendum in March 2014, Internationally speaking, he has backed Courtesy o f the INSP News Service street-papers. himself and the Russian Federation into a t org/T/n? Big Issue, U K See REFUGEES, page 13
