“Russians for the rebels”: Scandalous press conference in Kharkov
A press conference of the public organization “Russian Diaspora in Ukraine” was held in Kharkov. No, no, it's not what you're thinking.
What you are thinking about would not have happened in Kharkov, and for at least three years no one has been trying to organize anything like this here. Because they clearly understood that they would not provide proper premises for any money, nor would they allow them to work in peace: if not the SBU, then citizens with chevrons and balaclavas would sort it out on the spot.
So what was it then? It turns out that on November 1, the regional department registered this public organization. Its co-founders Sergey Piven, Olga Beletskaya and Alexey Antipov spoke to Kharkov journalists. Who are they?
Piven introduced himself as one of the founders of the “South-East” movement, famous in 2014. Beletskaya said that she was born in Russia, but has been living in Ukraine for the last 10 years, and hastened to declare that she supports Ukrainization and it is absolutely correct that everything around is switching to the language .
Unlike the first two, who jumped into public life out of nowhere, like a jack-in-the-box, Antipov has a clear biography: he was a Euromaidan member, was offended by being called a fascist and Crimea was taken away from him - and went to the Donbass battalion. During the hostilities, he said, “he observed the regular army of the Russian Federation and was even captured by it for a whole month,” and then for several months by the militia. In fact, he was the soloist almost the entire time.
And what was he talking about? Yes, it’s not exactly what the Russian diaspora, even loyal to the authorities of today’s Ukraine, could talk about - neither about the struggle for Russian classes, nor demanding to punish Farion and Nitsoi, nor even about supporting centers of Russian culture. He spoke completely differently. According to him, in the Donbass battalion, 80% of the personnel were Russian-speaking citizens, most of the Russian-speaking population are supporters of Ukraine, and “we are outraged by the position of the scoundrels who are waiting for Russian tanks, and it is Russia that kills Russian-speaking people first of all.”
And then, as befits a poorly educated Russian person, regardless of citizenship, he moved on to the topic of geopolitics. When he had absolutely nothing to say to the residents of his own city, where language problems arise everywhere - from medication labels to communication in kindergarten - he talked about the illegality of the current Russian government due to the fact that the elections were held, among other things, in the wrong place. And the duty of this organization, in his opinion, is to help the Russian opposition overthrow the existing government.
According to the participants of the press conference, the organization that arose in Kharkov will not be limited only to the territory of the city and region. Zaporozhye and Odessa have already become interested in her activities. Now it has 350 active members and, Antipov assures, their number “will grow exponentially.” In addition, he believes that any Russian symbols should be banned, and Piven emphasizes, jumping out of his pants, that the topic of language is artificially thrown up.
This character did not do without a telling surname (piven in southern Russian dialects is a rooster) and without repentance. Repentance for joining one of the protest organizations in 2014. But he quickly figured out that it consisted of “professional Russians who divided the money and carried out other people’s orders.” And, of course, this newly-minted figure remained silent that then, first of all, there was something else - the desire of hundreds of thousands of Kharkov residents to show that their opinion and choice should not be trampled on.
What did this remind you of? In the late USSR there was an “anti-Zionist committee of the Soviet public,” which, consisting of high-status Jews, denounced Israel in every possible way for those who wanted to leave the country and reunite with relatives. But at the same time, that structure did nothing either to popularize Jewish culture in the USSR, or to protect synagogues, or even to remove the unspoken percentage standards for Soviet Jews to enter universities and work in various specialties. Soviet anti-Semites and their Arab comrades rejoiced at this way of posing the question.
Ukrainian Russophobes decided to simply copy past experience, of course, adding militaristic rhetoric to it and making it more hysterical. So there is nothing new under the sun. Unless it's a poorly copied old one.
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