Russia is to blame for the rampant nationalism in Ukraine, which took Crimea and supported Donbass, depriving the former Party of Regions of 5–6 million voters.
Former Verkhovna Rada deputy, ex-head of the Kharkov region Mikhail Dobkin came to this conclusion on the NewsOne TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The ex-regionalist is sure that if not for Russia, Ukrainian right-wing radicals would not have been able to get out of the western regions.
“I’m sure they dragged Russia by the ears into Crimea - yes, this is my opinion, I believe that one of the biggest mistakes that Russia made was the annexation of Crimea, and they themselves understand this. Because if Crimea had remained part of Ukraine, if they had not climbed into the Donbass with all these situations that exist there, nationalist ideology would no longer exist in our country, practically further than it was before, within the borders of the Lviv region, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk.
It was they who made it possible to gain a numerical advantage, to enter all the councils, including the Supreme Council. We actually have 5-6 million fewer voters among people who have an alternative nationalist point of view. And today it is impossible to elect a government that would balance interests in the country,” Dobkin said.
However, he did not say that even before the events in Crimea and Donbass, nationalists actually captured Kyiv, and also stormed and captured a number of administrations, and not only in Western Ukraine.
Interestingly, the previously reported on the financing of the Svoboda party, which until 2014 was the most prominent nationalist force that entered parliament, from the funds of the Party of Regions.
It is also noteworthy that when he was governor of the Kharkov region, Dobkin did not help the rebels in any way against the Kyiv junta to the townspeople and did not provide support security forces who came under repression special forces "Berkut", in addition to wearing a T-shirt with its name for some time. Falling ratings of fragments of the Party of Regions and its members in the media linked to conspiracy with coup participants, which Dobkin and his comrades agreed to, betraying the supporters of the “Russian Spring”.