A
copy of a document purported to be from the then acting defense Minister
Mykhailo Koval, has made the rounds of the internet social network. It is a letter sent a letter on June 20 to
the President of Ukraine, Poroshenko, outlining the issue of refugees fleeing
from the east of Ukraine. Essentially, the Kiev Junta (KJ) regime wants
to create punitive battalions from refugees from the East for frontline combat
duties or active reserve duties. He
outlines 4 categories of refugees, including families, children, men & the
elderly.
Category
“A”—women and children: to be assigned into the care of educational and
training establishments (incl. boarding schools/orphanages. This it self raises a whole load of
questions, as to why there is a need for women to be separated from the rest of
the family for example? What kind of
training establishments? Moreover, if we add in comments made by KJ officials
with respect to children from the East, we get another aspect that may or may
not be noteworthy, as it offers an intriguing assessment of the mindset at work in Kiev. This seems to be a blunt attempt to forcibly
relocate people into new regions, against their will.
A recent statement made by the Ukrainian children’s rights
ombudsman, Valeria Lutkovskaya, demanded that the passage of orphans leaving the
eastern Ukrainian war zones should be prohibited. It beggars belief as why she has suddenly
taken an interest in some children, orphans, but seemingly blissfully unaware
of the ATO military air strikes & shelling of civilian areas, that is often
creating new orphans.
Valeria
Lutkovskaya‘s comments are almost a repeat from June, since the ex Ukrainian foreigner minister, Deshchytsia,
demanded from the Russian foreign minister, Lavrov that, Russia sends back
orphan children taking away areas under bombardments”.
Another
cornerstone of this Kiev MOD document, deals with those not wanting to serve in
the ATO. Evaded conscription is subjected
to "required filtration activities” according to the Minister. The document indicates that the Ukrainian
Security Service (“SBU”) should be used for” filtering measures”. The specifics
of this are not detailed, but we don’t need to dwell on the meaning of this too
deeply, since a precedent of sorts has been carried out by the KJ. There are a number of photos of Kiev forces rounding up men of military age in Slavyansk at the
beginning of July. Their fate is still
unknown. A number of rapports circulated on social networks relating to how men
between 18-35 years old, were rounded up
in Slavyansk, told to serve in the Ukraine army, threatened with being shot if they
didn’t.
The
SBU is responsible for the arrest & detention of possibly hundreds of “anti-Maidan”
activists, Pro-Donbass individuals. They have known to commit abuses. <a href=http://putnik1.livejournal.com/3261542.html</a>. Borotba
activists have been detained by the SBU, as part of a crackdown on left-wing
forces that opposed Maidan. Then to add
into this illegal mix, the activities of Right Sector thugs who are operating
in Ukraine, known to have kidnapped journalists, and are working directly for
the KJ authorities & sometimes in hand with the SBU.
the whole local police in #Slavyansk #Sloviansk arrested by the Army. to be replaced by NaziGuards from West Ukraine pic.twitter.com/nbQ4mCof4x
— Crimea&East (@IndependentKrym) 7 Juillet 2014
The
Ministers states that these proposals “meet the challenge of [personnel]
rotation in the units involved in the ATO”; note how he states that service in
ATO can be up to 2 months. There are a
number of video & printed testimonies of soldiers who have been in the ATO
since the beginning, basically, with little or no military kit, poor food and
poor hygienic conditions. The Defence
Minister sees using internal refugees are a useful tool to alleviate these
problems. Moreover, relatives of the
military in Lviv region have recently demanded to an end to mobilization and
the return of soldiers. The KJ logic is
to replace the Western Ukrainian soldiers with those from the East.
The
concept of “filtration” is not new as it has been used by the KJ previously in
June. The now former Defence minister, Koval, earlier publicly announced the
use of “filtration camps” for those from Donbass. The Minister briefed journalists that all adult residents of the
rebel regions will be placed in the filtration camps, including women.
According to him, they will identify those associated with the separatists and
those who committed crimes on the territory
of Ukraine.
Refugee
status and social guarantees is only to be provided after demobilization. This is a morally flawed logic from the Kiev
Junta, given the rights of international refugees under international law. However,
a lot of this whole issue was amply muddled in the 1990s with the designation
of Internally Displaced Person, (IDP).
An IDP does not have the same established enshrined rights as someone
who has crossed an international border.
However, that does not mean that they do not have any rights. Legally,
IDP’s do not fall under international refugee laws.
Whole
family units are envisaged being be split up, but their “constitutional” rights
as Ukrainian citizens, theoretically hinge upon the men folk to be sent to the
ATO area. This is from the government
put into power after the mayhem of Maidan, and who are wholeheartedly supported
& financed by the US
and the EU not less.
The
cynicism is laid bare in this statement: "this measure will effectively reduce the inflow of refugees and
expenditures on their upkeep ".
Set against a background of 86% unemployment now recorded in Kiev for
graduates, a 63% average gas price hike, it is assumed that the KJ is desperately clutching
at straws with the economic fallout of the conflict. Despite this, the costs of putting women &
children into “camps”, the elderly into social institutions are not negligible
either. The intention & spirit of this doesn’t make sense. Apart
from maybe, cynically, from the fact that those serving in the ATO will
probably not see any wages, as has been the case in recent months. Entire units have simply returned to Kiev to ask for their pay
& conditions.
The
KJ makes no secret of their open disgust, at times thinly veiled hatred for the
refugees, evidently for their failure to halt the “separatists” &
potentially their support for them. This
can be seen in the towns of Slayvansk & also Kramatorsk, where people have been asked to denounce
the “pro-separatists”. It is in this environment that the refugees are trapped
in, with regards to perceived allegiance.
Apparently, the Kiev
authorities have even hunted down people who have donated blood. The various actions & activities taking place
can be considered as the bigger picture, “Filtration measures”. This precisely what scenario these refugees
will be subjected to. One of the very last statements is also noteworthy for potentially
all of the “wrong moral reasons” as it clearly identifies the KJ’s attitude
towards the people in Donbass.
e) allow us to
understand the proportion of pro-Ukrainian population in the East without
resorting to sociological studies and surveys.
YOU really could read this IN MANY WAYS. This clearly delineates the position of the
Defence Minister, as it implies that he needs only to have concern for those
deemed to be “Pro-Ukrainian”. He not
alone in expressing this sentiment, as very recently, Anton Gerashchenko,
advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Arsen Avakov spoke “"The
Ministry of Internal Affairs believes that new laws are necessary which would restrict the rights of these citizens to
elect and to be elected. Otherwise we won't be able to create a unified
country. If a citizen wants to live in Russia - please:
suitcase-station-Russia!”. This is
another demonstration of the attitude of Kiev
officials: the Donbass population is considered as second-class citizens, (to
put it mildly), due to historical & cultural reasons.
Mr Koval did not define the expression, himself in any
meaningful way, but given the whole gist of the document, the circumstances
& the make-up of the KJ, it is a very loaded term indeed. It can be inferred that this definition only
covers anyone who is pro-Ukrainian, (Western version), will be happy to serve
in the KJ forces in the ATO, since anyone else will be subjected to “filtration
measures” by state agencies, notably the SBU.
Given the vicious hate campaign that has taken place
since February directed towards the Russian speakers in Ukraine, I have grave reservations on the use of
“pro-Ukrainian”, to exclude significant chunks of the Russian-speaking
population in Ukraine,
who just by chance happen not to sit so comfortably with the ATO taking place
in the East.
Take just one example of the attitude in Kiev. President Poroshenko
used the word "inhumans", ("нелюд"), to describe the
resistance in Slavyansk
during his speech at the beginning of July.
NATO, European Values,
Freedom & Democracy seem to be sadly shallow buzz words uttered by the high
& mighty when it suits them perfectly. For Ukrainian citizens, who in March saw the
Kiev Junta, visibly backed by neo-Nazis, as a serious & real threat. Their wishes to be able to use, preserve their
language, way of life, and values, stood in complete opposition to the new
Ukrainian values being promoted in the capital of Kiev. Now for those who have had to flee
their homes & livelihoods, now face further problems as outcasts in their
own country.
NOTES
- Complete translation is provided here:
2.
Internally displaced person – someone who has left her or his home in fear of
persecution, but has not crossed an international border.
UN
- Guiding Principles on
Internal Displacement.
“They
often suffer from violations of their human rights, which initially caused them
to flee their homes; they may experience further threats to other rights during
the period of displacement; and others during the process of return and
re-integration to their home communities”
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