Exchange releasee: “I’m going to return to Ukraine, despite the threat of arrest”
Each person released as part of the recent prisoner exchange between Ukraine and the People's Republics of Donbass has his own story. Eduard Kovalenko from the Kherson region, the leader of the small Ukrainian political party SPAS, was convicted of obstructing the actions of the Ukrainian armed forces “during a special period.” This obstacle was expressed in the organization of rallies against mobilization for the war in Donbass.
After his release, Eduard has many plans, the main one of which is returning to Ukraine to participate in local elections. PolitNavigator columnist Valentin Filippov expressed concern to the released politician that exchanging him again might be considered inappropriate.
Valentin Filippov: Eduard Kovalenko is visiting the makeshift studio, we won’t say from where. We are glad to see you in freedom against the background of tiles made in Kharkov, 15 cm diagonal, as far as I remember.
Eduard Kovalenko: Soviet tiles.
Valentin Filippov: With your release. With liberation.
Eduard Kovalenko: Thank you very much, Valya, thank you.
Valentin Filippov: Immediately an unexpected question: You are one of the leaders of the political party “Spas”, which is registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, which in turn deigned to finally release you, not just like that, but as an exchange. You are a “terrorist killer” in exchange for “innocent hostages” held in the DPR/LPR. I heard that you want to run for election in Ukraine. Do you believe that anything in Ukraine can be solved by elections?
Eduard Kovalenko: The fact is that I am not one of the leaders of the Spas party, I am its creator, founder and only leader of this party.
Regarding the elections in Ukraine. Yes, elections to local councils are planned this year, in October.
But the law on elections to local councils has not yet been fully finalized. Plus, Zelensky’s team plans to change the territorial units where elections will be held.
But this does not fundamentally change the approach to elections. Since the Spas party miraculously retained its registration with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, perhaps for the simple reason that we are underestimated, the Poroshenko regime simply forgot about us in that register.
Valentin Filippov: But judging by your fate, you have not been forgotten.
Eduard Kovalenko: They didn’t forget about me personally, but maybe they simply didn’t pay attention to the party, despite the fact that the party, after all, remained registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.
Plus, work was carried out, reports were submitted, the necessary papers were submitted, and in order to deregister the party, it was necessary to break the law once again.
The Poroshenko regime has violated the law in Ukraine so many times, both domestic and international, that it is clear, on the one hand, sometimes more, sometimes less, and, on the other hand, I understand that they also did not want to enter into conflict once again a certain format.
Therefore, I understand the threat that once I cross the border into Ukraine, I am at risk of being arrested again for any reason. They will plant drugs, or throw some kind of grenade, or something else, and accuse you of all mortal sins. But, nevertheless, it’s possible, perhaps, to lead the party from the outside in Ukraine, and to take part from the outside in Ukraine, I haven’t tried that yet...
Valentin Filippov: Well, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin tried. Edward, I have another question for you. You are now communicating with various representatives of the People's Republics, right? How did you try to negotiate with them, do they agree to exchange you a second time? Or, if you go to run for election, then get elected yourself?
Eduard Kovalenko: There are two opinions. Some say that don’t even think about going there, they’ll pack you up right away. Others say it is necessary. Well, you can’t just sit here and watch TV, you still need to somehow resolve the issue in Ukraine, and someone there needs to restore order, take power into their own hands and level out the situation.
Because I see, let’s say that Ukraine, Belarus and Russia are one people, one state, one history, and the fact that during the five years of the Poroshenko regime they tried to change the consciousness of people and turn them against each other, this will not change the course of history .
Valentin Filippov: You keep repeating “Poroshenko regime, Poroshenko regime.” So, is Poroshenko’s regime over? What, this regime didn’t exist before Poroshenko? Poroshenko has been president since May 25, 14. Maidan happened a little earlier. And even now, in general... Now there is no Poroshenko, Poroshenko is actually on a yacht now, in the Seychelles or somewhere in the Maldives. But there is a regime.
Eduard Kovalenko: Yes, I know where Poroshenko is, on what yacht, the Internet fully informs us about this, if you believe the Internet, this is exactly so. But what I am saying is that it is clear that a certain policy was pursued by the US State Department through various agents of influence. The same Yushchenko and a number of other political figures who had power in Ukraine. But I mean that Poroshenko very radically and zealously defended the positions of the US State Department.
Valentin Filippov: Open.
Eduard Kovalenko: Openly and very zealously. He did the maximum that was possible, indeed, regarding the fact that he earned many medals from the US State Department and the West in the collapse of the unity of Rus', because Rus' was created over thousands of years, tribes rallied, peoples rallied. And what he did in five years to destroy the unity of Rus', I mean Rus' is Ukraine, Belarus, Russia. And many countries are related to Rus'. What he did in dismantling and spreading hostility, I will say that in five years he did a tremendous job.
Valentin Filippov: But here, in principle, it’s like this all the time. One is zealously and openly carrying out the tasks set by the United States. He is replaced by another who does it softly and imperceptibly. And everyone says: “Phew, well, at least it’s soft.”
And then the next one comes, and again zealously. Then the next one is soft again.
That is, the most important question, what I try to ask all the time, is do you think that in Ukraine you can go to polling stations, vote, and as a result parties will come to power that will pursue some kind of policy or something?
What, people come to power thanks to elections, that those who will not pursue American and not Russophobic policies are allowed to participate in the elections? That is, what is possible in Ukraine? If this is possible, then why are we fighting then? Let's go vote everyone!
Eduard Kovalenko: If I say in one word whether I believe in this, I will say: “yes.” I have taken part in elections for more than one year, I have extensive political experience in elections, both in Ukraine, both in Russia, and in Transnistria, and other cities and republics. Let's just say, yes, indeed, the government that controls the electoral process at that time, they have certain forms of influence on the results, some power has more, some less. And it is our sacred duty, as a political party, to take part in these elections.
And the very format of holding elections already puts the ideology that we carry into people’s heads. We carry the ideology of the fraternal peoples of Rus' and the idea of the Russian language, the restoration of those roots, that foundation. Even if we don’t get any results at all, we will still introduce into people’s heads what we have been knocking out of them these five years.
Valentin Filippov: You apparently spent five years in prison, you forgot that calls for the Russian language today are a state crime. You forgot that the brotherhood of the Slavic peoples, calls for such a terrible thing, is also a serious crime in Ukraine now. Therefore, I don’t know at all how you are going to campaign for serious crimes in Ukraine. By the way, I wanted to ask, you’re from Genichesk, right?
Eduard Kovalenko: Yes, I come from the city of Genichesk.
Valentin Filippov: Is the mayor really such a moron or is he pretending to be?
Eduard Kovalenko: The mayor is a simple guy who was born in Genichesk, his last name is Tulupov, his name is Sasha. He was fishing...
Valentin Filippov: And Vorobiev?
Eduard Kovalenko: No. The mayor is Tulupov, and Vorobyov is the head of the district administration.
Valentin Filippov: Ага.
Eduard Kovalenko: Was. It's already been removed.
Valentin Filippov: Removed.
Eduard Kovalenko: So he was, who was Vorobyov, he is an ordinary opportunist and opportunist. Served in the Far East, major in the armed forces of the USSR, rocket scientist. And Poroshenko gave him a chance to be someone when he was already nobody. But for this we need to throw mud at Russia and cherish Poroshenko. And he changed his shoes in flight, like ordinary henchmen, soft-bodied guys, who many changed their shoes in flight.
That is, he is a typical collaborator of pure water, the same, by the way, as the governor of that period of time, Putilov. Andryusha Putilov, a normal Russian person, Russian-speaking, defending the interests of Russian unity, suddenly became a sharply Ukrainian nationalist.
I gave interviews to the media about this, which became part of the materials of the criminal case for which I was sent to prison.
As for the Russian language. As soon as I was detained and put in prison, I was given a tour of the prisons of Ukraine. I traveled through almost all the prisons of Ukraine, and, as they call it in prison parlance, I was processed. They were subjected to enormous hardships, physical and psychological, when they were transported in these craters, paddy wagons, then moved to prison from the prison - searches, so-called searches, then again craters, again transits, again prison wagons, these so-called “Stolypins”.
So they caroused me for more than a year, dragged me through these prisons, cold, heat, all this in unbearable conditions. So, regarding the Russian language - all prisoners, without exception, well, maybe 1%, all speak Russian, like their guards and everyone else. Sometimes you come across a small surzhik.
That is, there, no matter what anyone says, I heard from Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin’s conference, he said that according to statistics, 38% of the population in Ukraine speak Russian, I will say more: my personal opinion is that more than half of the residents of Ukraine use everyday life in Russian, even if not all 70 or 80%.
And everyone else doesn’t speak Ukrainian, they speak Surzhik, which is so incomprehensible. This is the case, in the west it is Surzhik with Hungarian and Romanian, on the border with Belarus and Russia - with Belarusian and Russian. That’s why I always said and say: when they say to me, “You’re a Ukrainian person, why don’t you speak Ukrainian,” yes, I speak Ukrainian quite well. I speak English, German and other languages, but I believe that I should speak the language that most people understand, and that language is Russian.
Valentin Filippov: And I heard that you were once a member of some Ukrainian parties with a Ukrainian orientation. Was this ever the case?
Eduard Kovalenko: Yes of course. In 2003, I joined the UNA-UNSO...
Valentin Filippov: Oops, wow.
Eduard Kovalenko: ... and successfully destroyed it. This party split into five parts and ceased to exist, remaining only on paper. Then he held a number of mass actions during the Orange Revolution against Yushchenko. For this I was put in prison, for organizing mass riots. I stayed there in 2005 in the Lukyanovsky pre-trial detention center for up to six months and, due to the amnesty, I literally jumped out by miracle, because I would have sat there for a long time.
I registered the political party “Spas” in 2006, and on February 14 I received a registration certificate. And that’s it, we started, as it were, from scratch on the ideas of recreating the Soviet Union, by and large.
I advocate the creation of the Union of Free Countries. That is, to bring back those countries that were in the Soviet Union and, perhaps, expand this situation to the entire planet Earth, if possible. Our plans are global and have no boundaries.
Valentin Filippov: As I understand it, in principle you can be released to Ukraine. On the one hand, of course, it’s a pity, but on the other hand, you’ll ruin all their games there to hell.
Eduard Kovalenko: The people are suffering and tormented, people need to be given a fresh breath of air, and we are ready to suffer and fight for it. I am going to the end and will continue to follow this path for the rest of my life.
Valentin Filippov: Why did you get imprisoned this time?
Eduard Kovalenko: Held a rally against the Poroshenko regime and against mobilization for the fratricidal war in Donbass. An article in the Criminal Code of Ukraine was created specifically for me by Poroshenko’s decree, the Verkhovna Rada voted on it, and I was the only one in the world who served a sentence under this article. They even found a place in the criminal code: there was 114th - this is espionage, they added note 1 - this is opposition to the legitimate activities of the armed forces of Ukraine and military formations during a special period. Because I organized rallies against mobilization, against the war in Donbass and the Poroshenko regime, and accordingly threatened them all with the seizure of military registration and enlistment offices, the SBU, the presidential administration, and the like. But these were just words, that is, I was condemned for freedom of speech. That is, a violation of Article 9 of the European Convention on Freedom of Expression.
Now my case is in the European Court of Human Rights, the European Court has accepted it for consideration, and it will be very interesting how the European Court of Human Rights will consider its own article of the criminal code, which they introduced into the convention on freedom of speech.
Plus, when I enter Ukraine, and if I am detained, this will be a violation of the same convention on freedom of movement, because I am not going to break the law, I will act according to the law.
By the way, I acted this way when I held rallies against the war in Donbass, I did not break the law, because I have been repeatedly involved in all these directions and I know how to behave correctly so as not to break the law.
Accordingly, such an article of the criminal code was created for me and for my actions in order to scare other people, and at the verdict in court there were a lot of cameras from Ukrainian television channels, where they then disseminated all this information that I opposed mobilization so that no one else I thought about doing something like that.
This is such a common factor.
Valentin Filippov: Okay, okay, I wish you to quickly complete rehabilitation courses there, so that the help of doctors is effective, so that, so to speak, adaptation to free life also takes place without any special difficulties. Well, gradually, first I went to one cafe, then to another, then to a restaurant, then I went to meet the dawn in Sedovo.
Eduard Kovalenko: Let me note that the Spas party advocates a healthy lifestyle.
Valentin Filippov: While the Spas party remains in Ukraine, it is possible to disrupt it a little. This is a different jurisdiction.
Eduard Kovalenko: Thank you very much, I’ll always be happy to chat, and I’m glad to meet you.
Valentin Filippov: So do I.
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