History Of The Donbas, Explained

Описание: What You Need To Know:

✓ Hiroaki Kuromiya, a history professor who specializes in the Donbas and is also the author of the seminal book, "Freedom and Terror in the Donbas” says the more he studies the Donbas, there more he finds it difficult to understand;

✓ While a certain resistance existed in the Donbas prior to 2014, for the most part, Russians an Ukrainians got along in the region. “I don’t think the language issue was there, I don’t think there were ethnic issues either;”

✓ “The people are willing to see where they could go. Euro path would be acceptable as long as they think that their life could be better off;”

✓ “Reintegrating the Donbas into Ukraine is not going to be easy…Kyiv ought to be very patient.“

The war in the Donbas has killed at least 10,000 people and left much of the region's industry and infrastructure in ruins. But sadness in the region extends back much further than summer 2014, when the war began in earnest. Hiroaki Kuromiya, a history professor who specializes in the Donbas and is also the author of the seminal book, "Freedom and Terror in the Donbas” says that the more he studies the Donbas, there more he finds it difficult to understand. The situation is complicated because those living in even Ukrainian-controlled territory, may not support what the Ukrainian government is doing.

And those who support the DNR and LNR are “basically protesting the power structure in Kyiv which they think is not doing much to help or to promote the Donbas.”
The Donbas, given its geographic location between two power centers, has always struggled. “In 1989 they rebelled, in the 1990s they rebelled. They did not necessarily want to go back to the Soviet past. They wanted more power. They wanted more input into their own lives. Because everything was controlled from above,” says Kuromiya.

Kuromiya believes that while a certain resistance existed in the Donbas prior to 2014, for the most part, Russians an Ukrainians got along in the region. “I don’t think the language issue was there, I don’t think there were ethnic issues either.” Much of the tensions were brought out by Moscow, who distorted the issue.

“Then Russia started intervening because they had hopes that Yanukovych would follow Moscow’s dictation,” he says adding that the people in the region might have chosen the European route; “the people are willing to see where they could go. Euro path would be acceptable as long as they think that their life could be better off.”
Kuromiya says much of Donbas’ future will depend on how both Moscow and Kyiv try to resolve the problem. And while many might be angry with Kyiv in the area, he is against those who think that the Donbas is no good for Ukraine: “Reintegrating the Donbas into Ukraine is not going to be easy… Kyiv ought to be very patient.“

Kuromiya notes that Stalin’s treatment of Mongolia was an experiment for what it would do in Eastern Europe. While many former empires have accepted colonial independence, understanding that they cannot control the world that way, this is certainly not the case for Russia and China who are “behaving like empires, expanding their territories, without learning the lessons of the 20th Century.”

Hromadske’s Nataliya Gumenyuk spoke to Hiroaki Kuromiya, American Historian Specialized in Donbas in May, 2016 in Kyiv.

This video was originally published on May 12th, 2016.

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