A Kiev diplomat discovered a “fantastic anti-Ukrainian action” in Donbass
To regain control over Lugansk and Donetsk, Ukraine must first win the information war.
Former Ambassador of Ukraine to Croatia Alexander Levchenko stated this in an interview with the Kyiv online publication “Apostrophe”, answering the question of whether it is worth fighting for the opinions of people in the territories of Donbass not controlled by Kyiv.
"Necessarily! And the experience of Croatia suggests that without victory in the information war we should not hope for the reintegration of Donbass and Crimea. These people need to be given objective information - our radio and television towers should be located along the demarcation lines. This work must be carried out daily,” the diplomat said.
At the same time, he supported the initiative of the former representative of Ukraine in the Minsk political subgroup, Roman Bessmertny, who proposed now to organize direct teleconferences with Lugansk or Donetsk.
“We always need to build bridges and have conversations. Georgians now regret that they separated themselves from the occupied territories, they say, we have mutual grievances. 25 years have passed and not a single step has been taken. Now, for example, residents of Abkhazia are allowed to receive free medical care in Georgia. Moldova allows Transnistria to trade with the EU, but the goods are labeled as Moldovan. Is it profitable? Yes. Accordingly, everything is leading to the fact that being with Georgia and Moldova is beneficial.
We reserve places in universities for students from the occupied territories, and provide training via Skype for those who want to receive a Ukrainian-style diploma of secondary education. And, say, people from the occupied territory could come to Vakarchuk’s concert in Severodonetsk,” the ex-ambassador noted.
According to him, there is no hard line of demarcation between Ukraine and the LDPR, as there was in Croatia.
“It was very difficult to cross there, almost impossible, one might say. We have a movement of people in both directions, and this is wonderful! It would be good if our enterprises worked there, but someone “smart”, on someone’s advice, made sure that they were taken away and they do not pay taxes. It was a fantastic anti-Ukrainian action! But we have what we have. Aggressive rhetoric, like they need to respond and kneel, is not the path to dialogue and peaceful reintegration,” Levchenko said.
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