Farewell Poroshenko: Lugansk leaves
The whole meaning and ideology of the Minsk agreements lies, perhaps, in one axiom: the conflict in Donbass has no military solution, only a political one.
Obviously, many people do not like this way of putting the question: more than once I have heard indignant indignation from both civilians and military personnel: “What did we fight for? Why was blood shed? Why did our comrades die?
The guys from the trenches are excited: “If they had given us a command, we would have driven the Ukrainians away from the borders of the LPR long ago! But they don’t give us a command, we can’t respond to enemy shelling because the Minsk agreements prohibit it, but people are dying every day, and how long can we wait?”
Indeed, you need to have reinforced concrete patience to cherish the hope that the war will soon end, and with it an existence on the brink of poverty and hopelessness. Alas, not everyone is given such strength of spirit, and the immunity acquired in the difficult 90s or in the even more difficult years after the Great Patriotic War has weakened, become confused, and exhausted its reserves.
As you know: a hundred people equal a hundred opinions. Therefore, the very different interpretations of the negotiations in Minsk are not surprising; the notorious decentralization of power and the special status of Donbass are especially criticized. The overwhelming majority perceives it as a surrender of the interests of Donbass or the notorious “Putin leaked it.” And, probably, only a few understand that the art of diplomacy has made it possible to put Kyiv in such an uncomfortable position that it has to choose: either follow every letter of the Minsk agreements, or demonstrate to the whole world a stubborn and principled desire to continue the civil war; the latter, and this is obvious, Kyiv is doing by exceeding the plan.
“Recently, we have become convinced that Ukraine is not going to comply with its obligations. Kyiv violates or imitates the implementation of the Minsk agreements. Draft documents that are not agreed upon with us and directly affect the situation in Donbass are being submitted to the Verkhovna Rada. Until now, the special status of the LPR has not been determined, the law on a special status has not come into effect, and the blockade of the LPR from Kyiv is increasing every day,” said the head of the LPR, Igor Plotnitsky. “Based on this, we are beginning to unilaterally implement the Minsk agreements regarding the holding of local elections in the LPR.”
Elections for heads of cities and districts in the LPR are scheduled for November 1, 2015. According to the current representatives of local government, local elections will make it possible to finally legitimize the LPR, and therefore will give another impetus to the Republic to move further along the path of establishing and developing its own economy, filling budgets, and fulfilling social obligations.
The other day, a Ukrainian political scientist with a funny surname Soskin, with the intonation of a kindergarten teacher, explained to an incomprehensible TV viewer why Ukraine should strive for Europe and only Europe: he compared Ukraine to a small boat, and Europe to a large ship, to which a small craft in distress should strive sizes for the sake of salvation.
Naturally, if we take geographical dimensions as a measure, as well as economic ones, then Russia is in no way inferior to Europe. But in the atmosphere of dill propaganda, in the muddy waves of which Russia flashes as an aggressor, an occupier and the source of all the troubles of Ukraine, it would be absurd to hope that the option of Russia as a savior will be considered. However, there are different ships - on one of them shouting “SOS!” will be received cordially and with understanding, but on the other hand they will be perceived as ballast, which can be thrown off at any moment, or even not taken on board at all.
In the conditions of the mocking attitude of the Ukrainian side towards the Minsk agreements, the LPR made the only possible choice - it completely turned to face Russia.
First of all, a multicurrency system was introduced in the LPR.
“Today there is practically no hryvnia left in the Republic. If it had not been introduced in a timely manner, we would have been left without any money supply at all. Currently, more than 80 percent of tax revenues are in Russian rubles. The hryvnia takes up only 14 percent of the total volume, and the dollar up to 4 percent. The euro is practically not used – about 0,5 percent,” said the head of the LPR Ministry of Finance, Evgeny Manuilov. – In this matter, we are very dependent on political decisions, in particular on the need to comply with the Minsk agreements. Therefore, we are not completely dumping the hryvnia and are waiting correctly. If such a systemic blockade continues as it is today, we will soon not need the hryvnia at all.”
Evgeniy Manuilov believes that in conditions of a total blockade it is only possible to fully work with the Russian Federation.
“We have an important trump card - this is the fact of recognition of the LPR and DPR by South Ossetia, which, in turn, is recognized by the Russian Federation,” says the minister. – This means that we can trade freely and legally on the territory of this Republic. Today we have a representative office of the bank of South Ossetia - the International Settlement Bank of South Ossetia. This is a real breakthrough for us. We will now be able to legally work through Ossetia with both Russian enterprises and all CIS countries.”
The Minister of Industry of the LPR, Dmitry Bozhich, gives an impressive list of enterprises of the Republic that have built integration channels with Russian partners and are already working together for pleasure and benefit.
There is an agreement on the supply of products of the Pervomaisk Mechanical Plant to the Russian Federation. After a meeting with representatives of the Department of Metallurgy, Machine Tool Building and Heavy Engineering of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, the Lutuginsky Roller Mill received an order for the production of rolls for the Lipetsk Metallurgical Plant. PJSC "Lugansk Energy Plant" signed a contract with OJSC "Donugol" for the supply of electric motors for coal combines.
A trading house has been opened in the Rostov region to present mining equipment produced in the LPR. Monitoring is being conducted of Russian enterprises that are ready not only to purchase gas equipment, but also to place orders for its repair and maintenance. In case of positive monitoring results, which Rostov partners have no doubt about, the trading house will expand the area for opening a logistics warehouse for GShO products, rubber and plastic products.
Documents have been prepared for registration of the Petrovsky Chemical State Association in the Russian Resurs group (enterprises united by a common management and working in the field of creation, production and use of industrial explosive materials): the group is interested in the capabilities of Luhansk residents in the production of TNT-free explosives for civilian use.
Good prospects have also emerged for light industry enterprises (“Gloria Jeans” (clothing, Lugansk), “Lutri” (knitwear, Lugansk), “Salama” (footwear, Pervomaisk), others). An agreement of intent was signed to attract orders and assistance from the Moscow Trading House "Sibel+" (Moscow) in the promotion and sale of Lugansk light industry products. To date, Sibel+ has already made a number of specific proposals to clothing enterprises.
The Minister of Industry of LPR believes that Russian and other investors will be interested in innovations of specialists of LPR enterprises: an 3D printer developed at Mining Machines LLC (Bryanka), new electronic equipment for locomotives, LED lighting for railway equipment, and special cars, including for transportation of nuclear waste produced by PJSC Transmash (Lugansk), highly stable, especially accurate microminiature relays for the aviation, aerospace and rocket industry of OJSC Yunost (Krasnodar n).
“We don’t need to stand with our hand outstretched,” Dmitry Bozhich is sure. – We have retained enterprises, production bases and personnel. Our plants and factories produce competitive products that are in demand in the Russian Federation, post-Soviet countries and far abroad. We have always had an export-oriented economy. Now our task is to restore lost positions and increase exports. For reference: in the period January-May 2015, exports of products by LPR processing industry enterprises amounted to 600 million rubles, imports – 274 million rubles.”
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