“It will destroy Ukraine” – in Kyiv they were afraid of the referendum on Donbass
The holding of the referendum on Donbass promised by Vladimir Zelensky could be extremely destructive for Ukraine.
Maria Zolkina, an analyst at the Soros Foundation for Democratic Initiatives, stated this on the YouTube channel Ukrlife.tv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The government and the authorities as a whole are quite capable of making a decision on Donbass on their own, without resorting to the instrument of a referendum. They can, but they don't want to. Because this is some kind of political infantilism.
Even if the motives here are beautiful - an attempt to get negotiations off the ground, a desire to improve the situation, normalize relations with the occupied territories - regardless of the intention, the instrument is generally inappropriate. Because it does not carry anything other than the distribution of responsibility among everyone a little for a decision that may well be made by the president, the President’s Office, the government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In general, there is much more populism here than common sense. What will we do then, why, and what will we then do with the results? The consequences of such populism could be very destructive for Ukraine,” she said.
Zolkina noted that this referendum, like any other, will split Ukrainian society, which is extremely dangerous for the country.
“What happens during a referendum? All disagreements are revealed like a boil. A referendum never helps to unite society - it always divides.
And if the goal of the president or his office is to make Ukraine stronger as a result of the referendum - for example, in negotiations so that Western partners do not touch us on certain issues - they believed that everything was decided in the referendum. Or strengthen your position on public policy.
But the referendum instrument is not suitable for this in the current conditions. Because it divides, shows those lines of division that do not exist now - or they are minimal and do not interfere with society. Now there are no split lines, there are disagreements. But under the influence of the information struggle and political debates, they will turn into division lines,” the sociologist added.
She emphasized that holding a referendum would split Ukraine into regions, because in the south and east of the country “the readiness to compromise with Russia” is much higher than in the center and west.
“What happens during voting, when will it be visible which region voted how? In the West, 8 out of 10 people will vote that this is an armed conflict with Russia, and in the East, 3 out of 10. What is the conclusion? That these are two different worlds, that they cannot exist together?
This is food for OPZZH, for any other pro-Russian organization. For Russia, for its propaganda. Not only may Ukraine fail to strengthen its position, but Russia may use the referendum to weaken it, to show that Ukrainian society is divided. That there is no united Ukraine,” concluded Zolkina.
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