“Western Ukraine will explode. It's blazing. Donbass is flowers”
It is more difficult to be a Komsomol member in Volyn in 2015 than to be a Jew in Germany in 1934. Mikhail Kononovich not just a Komsomol member, but the secretary of the Leninist Communist Youth Union of all Ukraine. Like his fiery predecessors, he is not afraid to speak the truth face to face and does not limit himself in wording, and is not stingy in his assessments of what is happening on the Volyn land.
The economy is destroyed, society is split, the country is torn apart.
Skype is the last thing that connects us.
The columnist spoke with Mikhail Kononovich about all this “PolitNavigator” Valentin Filippov.
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Valentin Filippov: Hello, Mikhail. Greetings from the city of Sevastopol, PolitNavigator. How are things in Lutsk?
Mikhail Kononovich: Everything is fine in Lutsk, the heat is Sevastopol.
Valentin Filippov: And the sea?
Mikhail Kononovich: The sea... we call it the “green sea”, that is, vegetable gardens. The green sea turns yellow.
Valentin Filippov: Gradually. Burns out.
Mikhail Kononovich: If it burns out, then the economy of Volyn will collapse. Because this is an agricultural area.
Valentin Filippov: What? No irrigation system?
Mikhail Kononovich: An irrigation system may have been provided for, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union everything was stolen, and Volyn never really needed such systems.
But it was, but everything was destroyed, with independence... You know. Nothing gets stuck. Including pipes.
Valentin Filippov: What about political orientation?
Mikhail Kononovich: This is the situation. Volyn is traditionally considered a pro-Maidan region. People here really supported the Maidan. Due to existing situational reasons. Due to historical traditions. Due to its proximity to Galicia. Galicia has always had a huge influence on Volyn. Especially after the 1991 coup d'etat.
People are slowly recovering from this shock.
After these paid fireworks on the Maidan. They are sobered by the economic situation. Because the economic situation is catastrophic.
People are mainly employed in the agricultural sector and earning money abroad. They work as laborers for lords in Poland, this is seasonal work. The entire northern territory of the region is occupied in seasonal work. Now in Belarus it is even more profitable than in Poland.
Valentin Filippov: And in Russia?
Mikhail Kononovich: In Russia there is also a lot of work to be done...
Valentin Filippov: So what happened, why are we fighting?
Mikhail Kononovich: People who were intoxicated, befuddled by this coup d’etat - frankly, the residents of Western Ukraine wanted blood. They were intoxicated by the easy victory of the coup. Incited by the Americans. Many received apartments and money.
Here are the prices on the Maidan. The Maidan centurion received two thousand dollars a day. Deputy thousand. The infantry received two hundred dollars. And this force is reactionary from Western Ukraine. These farmers. They are also called “raguli” in Galicia, so they all ran for a long ruble. For a long dollar, or rather. To the Maidan.
Why do all the Maidans take place in the fall towards winter...
This is no coincidence.
Political strategists take into account regional characteristics. And revolutions in Ukraine always occur after the harvest. When these people come to work from construction, and when laborers return from Poland. From apples, from raspberries, from strawberries. And locally they sold beet potatoes.
And they sit. And they have nothing to do.
And the Maidans were planned as a part-time job. And therefore, the infantry, the driving force of the Maidan, 90% are collective farmers from the West and Center of Ukraine.
Valentin Filippov: So what is happening today? The Maidan is over, no money is being distributed. The economic situation has changed.
Mikhail Kononovich: These people were told “Europe-Europe”, and these people actually ended up in Europe. Maidan, this was Europe in the understanding of Western Ukrainian farmers. No need to work, “Slavutich-mitsne”, smelly mattress, Ruslana sings.
Fun and entertainment.
They also pay money.
In Volyn there was this expression: “Here I was on the Maidan, they didn’t pay me anything. “They don’t pay bad people.”
If you are an outright fool, you were not paid, but everyone was paid.
A paradoxical thing happened after the coup d'etat. There is an opinion imposed by Western media, say, the Kyiv junta. They started saying “Western Ukraine is fighting for Ukraine in Donbass.” By fighting in Donbass, you are defending Ukraine. In my understanding, it's quite the opposite.
Exactly the opposite.
The South-East has risen to save Ukraine.
Western Ukraine does not value statehood.
How does a Westerner live? 90% either wash their asses or dig potatoes. All.
The state of Ukraine does not influence his life in any way.
Residents of the South-East, they value the state, because large production capacities, both production and sales, can only be carried out in the state.
Valentin Filippov: You remembered the wonderful volunteers...
Mikhail Kononovich: Not great, no.
Valentin Filippov: We know how assistance is being collected for the ATO now, I don’t know how it is in Volyn, but... What do we have with the racketeering there? Do you have the same situation as in Odessa? Is money being squeezed out of small businessmen?
Mikhail Kononovich: Yes! Yes Yes! Only worse! Worse, believe me.
Valentin Filippov: But in Odessa they at least know that this is “cotton wool” and needs to be squeezed out of it. And in Volyn they are all their own.
Mikhail Kononovich: I’ll tell you this with regards to Western Ukraine. Here everything is against everyone. Here - “dyke pole”, “walk-field”. Makhnovshchina. It all depends on the political situation.
First, the thugs from the Maidan.
Then they were replaced by battalions.
The battalions were replaced by police.
We have everything clearly distributed.
We have such a Lapin, a people's deputy of Ukraine. Popular Front. Everyone in Volyn knows that he deals with amber. Here he is engaged in amber and smuggling. The head of the regional police is in charge of all this. Shpyga.
I'm telling you how this happens. We activists live in Volyn. With my brother, in particular, we have our own people. When did we begin to actively engage in politics, I mean, when the coup took place. Everyone there was frightening, saying that we were scumbags there. But as soon as we stepped on the tail, went out into the amber, went out to smuggle cigarettes, they immediately started beating us.
Moreover, I will tell you that I am an anti-fascist, my brother is the head of the anti-fascist committee of the Volyn region and the head of the Russian community. Now, think about it for a second. This year alone he was beaten by thugs five times. Five times the person was hospitalized. Five times the head of the regional police, Comrade Shpyga, hushes up these matters.
And when they beat him for the last time, according to our data, Shpyga stood nearby and did not even intervene. In short, this is an organized crime group that deals with amber and smuggling, and is completely supervised by the regional police chief.
And, you understand, now in Volyn it will be, believe me, worse than Mukachevo. Because there is such a redistribution going on there now. They have already grappled with each other. Bloc of Petro Poroshenko with the Popular Front. I repeat once again, the Right Sector separately, Kolomoisky separately. Everyone is against everyone, there will soon be a massacre.
The situation will explode, people will not tolerate this, and everything will start with another redistribution. Social rebellion will be added to this, prices and everything. Western Ukraine will explode. It's blazing. Believe me, these will be flowers compared to Donbass.
Valentin Filippov: No one will think of sending troops to bomb Western Ukraine. I don’t think that it would occur to anyone to strike Volyn with multiple launch rocket systems.
Mikhail Kononovich: You see, I’ll tell you this. Multiple launch rocket systems have scumbags. They will attract it and use it among themselves in showdowns.
Kyiv no longer solves anything.
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