Donbass began quiet integration with Russia

 Alexander Chalenko, political observer

While Russian patriots of Strelkov’s style are arguing among themselves about whether the Kremlin merged or did not merge Novorossiya, Donbass has de facto begun its quiet integration into the Russian Federation. As strange as it may sound, what Russian national patriots have been talking about for so long, and what the long-suffering people of Donbass have been demanding from the Kremlin for so long - namely the “Crimean scenario” for the DPR and LPR - as it turns out, has long been underway to the fullest. The Russian patriotic bureaucracy, under the guise of Minsk-2, has been working closely on this very integration for at least six months.

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Let's be honest, Donbass has always been and is interested in the “Novorossiya project” not as the creation of an independent state, but as an opportunity to quickly become part of the Russian Federation.

The reasoning here is roughly as follows. Novorossiya, which includes Donbass, is a historical Russian land. And since they are Russians, then, please, take us to your place. By the way, I have no doubt that this is exactly the scenario that the citizens of Kharkov, Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk and other cities of Greater Novorossia want for themselves.

Nobody wants independence for a long time. The ideological stage has been passed. The “independence” of Novorossiya is now in the consciousness of Donbass associated with the nightmare of war and falling out of civilization. Everyone wants to go to civilization - to Russia. To a peaceful, calm and well-fed life that only Moscow can give.

I myself, as a journalist and citizen of the DPR, was at the referendum on May 11, 2014 in Moscow, where about 50 thousand Donetsk and Luhansk residents who lived in Russia at that time came to the voting station. I talked to people for several hours straight. Yes, they had to answer the question: do they agree with the declaration of state independence of the DPR and LPR? The question of joining Russia was not raised.

But everyone then sincerely believed that in fact this was such a cunning trick in the “Crimean scenario” for Donbass. The Kremlin knows how to do it right. Even if it was naive, this was the attitude in the minds of those who came from the mining region.

Well, even so, under the cannonade of the merciless Ukrainian artillery, which brings grief to the civilians of the mining towns, today their dream begins to come true. Look for yourself, political, economic, military, social, educational and other integration is in full swing.

For example, a few weeks ago, while in the LPR, I got into a conversation with a TV journalist from the Lugansk city of Sverdlovsk. She was worried about what to do with her daughter’s certificate, which the LPR Ministry of Education would issue to her in a year. She did not understand which university her daughter could enter with a document from an unrecognized republic. Even before the war in Donbass, she thought that it was one of the Kyiv ones. What now? Everything was up in the air.

How could I answer her? Only that this problem must somehow be solved. Let him not worry. Personally, I didn’t even doubt for a minute that Russia would help, and I told her so. But he said it randomly, just to calm the woman down. I could not say anything to confirm my words.

And I am very glad that, in general, my hopes were not in vain. Last week, Moscow State University rector Viktor Sadovnichy said that Russian universities will recognize secondary education certificates issued in the DPR and LPR. With them it will be possible to enter Russian universities. Moreover, quotas will be allocated to such applicants at Russian universities and institutes. Isn't this integration?

You need to understand that the war and the economic blockade that Kiev established simply threw Donbass out of civilization: the majority of the former managerial elite fled the region, there is practically no work in the territories controlled by the DPR and LPR, the banking system does not work, the people fell into poverty, in the summer last year the state virtually disappeared.

The state began to be built from scratch. Without Russia, state building in the DPR and LPR is unrealistic. And it is happening with the help of Russian advisers. The so-called “curators” with whom government offices in Donetsk and Lugansk are filled to capacity.

Already now, not without Russia’s encouragement, the ruble has become the second payment unit and sooner or later will replace the hryvnia.

It is known that in Donbass almost all production is export-oriented. But Russia cannot conclude deals on the territory of the LDPR. This threatens with international sanctions those of its enterprises that will conclude these same deals. However, a solution to this problem was successfully found: South Ossetia was included in the DPR/LPR-Russia chain.

For example, this was done with Luganskteplovoz. This Caucasian republic ordered the locomotives instead of Russia. She can: she has established diplomatic relations with the LPR. In turn, these products will then be sold from South Ossetia to Russia. As a result, the LPR can actually legally receive Russian rubles.

The head of the front-line Kuibyshevsky district of Donetsk, Ivan Prikhodko, where shelling takes place almost every day, told me that due to the fact that the treatment facilities remained in the territory occupied by Ukraine, a problem with water arose in the city. However, after Russia, as a humanitarian aid, began supplying chlorine to the Republic, the water problem was solved.

Repairs to citizens' homes and public buildings damaged by shelling - primarily hospitals and schools - are also being carried out thanks to Russian assistance. Glass, slate, cement and other building materials are all from Russia. Medicines are mainly supplied to hospitals from Russia. Russian food products have actually already replaced Ukrainian ones from stores. True, they are somewhat more expensive. But what other way out is there under the blockade?

Pavel Astakhov told me in an interview that this year thousands of children in Novorossiya will spend their summer holidays in the Krasnodar Territory and Abkhazia. Moreover, Russia will also help equip pioneer camps in Donbass itself. So children will be able to move into them in August.

Schools and universities of the LDPR are switching to Russian educational programs. Schoolchildren and students will study using textbooks, which will also be delivered by the Russians.

By the way, the Novorossiysk army is already changing into Russian military uniforms (I personally saw it), not to mention other – non-lethal – interaction...

Therefore, when one of the patriots in Moscow claims that Russia, which agreed to Minsk-2, is doing everything to integrate Donbass back into Ukraine, it makes me laugh. I think so do you.