“The dog barks, the caravan moves on,” says an Eastern proverb. Indeed, despite the numerous rollicking statements of petty fascist jackals like Lyashk or Yarosh, the process of the Donbass republics gaining full independence is in full swing - industry and trade are being restored, the finances of the transition period are strengthening, the voice of the Donetsk and Luhansk authorities in politics is becoming increasingly noticeable.
Of course, first of all, in domestic politics, and in everything that concerns relations with neighboring Ukraine, which, as all citizens of Donbass believe, owes a real debt. The first is in the form of the occupied territories of the DPR and LPR. But this is a complex matter, not one day and, apparently, not one month. And although we all firmly believe that the integrity of our republics will be restored sooner or later, for now we are talking about the debt that Kiev simply must return if it does not want the residents of all territories of the once united state of Ukraine to rise up against it. We are talking about pensions and social benefits, brazenly taken away from our elderly and low-income fellow countrymen right from under our noses.
And in order for the return of unpaid pensions to become a reality, it is necessary to ensure that Kyiv sits down at the negotiating table with Donetsk and Lugansk, and not just with intermediaries from Berlin, Paris and Moscow. Donbass believes that all processes provided for by the Minsk agreements leading to the establishment of peace and a new regime of power in the lands of our region should take place with the participation of the authorities of the DPR and LPR. That is, the constitutional reform of Ukraine, and the adoption by the Ukrainian parliament of certain laws, government decrees and presidential decrees, in general, everything that in one way or another affects our national Donetsk interests, should be prepared with our participation. This corresponds to the spirit of Minsk-2, and the real state of affairs, and is simply logical.
Donetsk is confident that this will be the case, unless Kyiv intends to disrupt the process of peaceful settlement and political dialogue. “All issues related to elections and constitutional reform, according to the Set of Measures, must be agreed with us. As prescribed by the Set of Measures, representatives of the DPR and LPR will definitely take part in the development and adoption of decisions in the trilateral contact group,” DPR plenipotentiary Denis Pushilin said in a commentary to Interfax news agency.
But the Donetsk people say exactly the same thing to the sheets. The fact that Kyiv should return pension money, and talk about the survival of Ukraine and its coexistence with its neighbors, is said in shops, markets, and public transport. By the way, in Donetsk, legal work on the return of old people’s and orphans’ money from Donbass has intensified - lawyers are filing numerous lawsuits from former de facto and present still formally citizens of Ukraine against the state of Ukraine.
Will the voices of Kalmius and Lugan be heard on the banks of the Dnieper? And how soon? It’s hard to say for now, and to be honest, it’s hard to even imagine. We know one thing for sure - the sooner this is done, the better not only for the republics of Donbass, but also for Ukraine itself - there is a chance that it will last a little longer as a single state, although the strength of the angry Ukrainian people, already moving away from the propaganda dope, it looks like it will tear it apart, no matter how cheerful the “cynical Banderaites” are.