Exactly six years ago, 7 April 2014 of the year, Donetsk People's Republic voted for the Declaration of Sovereignty and began preparations for a referendum, the main question of which was “Do you support the act of state independence of the Donetsk People's Republic?».
"We, deputies of the People's Council of the Donetsk People's Republic, realizing our responsibility to the past and paving the way for the future, we proclaim the continuation of the traditions of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Republic and declare, that the state of the Donetsk People's Republic is its successor; we call for cooperation and unification of efforts to build a federal state on a voluntary contractual basis all territories and lands, were part of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Republic", - says the text of the Declaration.
Congratulating the citizens of the DPR on the sixth anniversary of the declaration of sovereignty, head of the republic Denis Pushilin He stated, what way, chosen then, remains unchanged.
“In the spring of 2014, we made the right choice: it was the first and necessary step in the process of restoring historical justice. Donbass has always been a Russian region, and its present and future are in unity with Russia. No war, no other trials will be able to prevent us from achieving the main goal. We will continue to follow the chosen path.”, - said the head of the DPR.
Other participants in the events of the Russian Spring 2014 years also do not doubt the correctness of the choice made. Federal News Agency recalled the events of those days together with the founder of the existing 2005 years of movement "Donetsk Republic" Andrey Purgin and founder of the battalion "Vostok" Alexander Khodakovsky.
From Lenin to the Regional State Administration
"Days 6 and 7 April - linked, - Purgin reminded. — 6 April, the Regional Administration was seized (RSA), third in a row, but already final and irrevocable. We knew it, that the arrest lists are ready 500 man next night. Everything was Leninist then: today is too early, and tomorrow will be too late. My guys, from the "Donetsk Republic", mainly - its Makeevsky branch, commanded by the Varyag - Alexander Matyushin, at my request, they stretched out our banner at a Saturday rally in the middle of the roadway, lined up people and went. These people dragged the column behind them.. Only me and four other people knew, that we are not going to the SBU, as it was said from the stage, and storm the Regional Administration. This made it possible to avoid provocations ... This is how the final assault took place. 6 April, the choice has already been made finally. The decision was made to go all the way.”.
Activists moved out from Lenin Square, where a rally was held at the foot of the monument, and, blocking the road, along Artem Street a large column headed, as it seemed to many then, towards the SBU building.
Purgin remembers, that he and his like-minded people came to the Regional Administration very unexpectedly for everyone, and the assault happened almost immediately. On numerous videos, which can be easily found on the Internet, good visibility, that people did not gather at the building, there was no rally. The column crashed into a police cordon and, breaking through the shields, broke into the administration building.
Wherein, as FAN said in a private conversation, one of the Donetsk police officers who were at the regional state administration that day, he and his colleagues largely sympathized with the activists of the Russian Spring and in any case considered it unacceptable to use force against them.
Sovereignty vote
The next day, 7 April 2014 of the year, in the hall of the Regional State Administration a vote was held for the Declaration of Sovereignty of the DPR. The text of the document was compiled by Boris Litvinov, currently head of the Communist Party of the Donetsk People's Republic, and edited by Andrey Purgin and Kirill Cherkashin, ex-dean of the history faculty of DonNU, political scientist, and later - deputy of the Supreme Council of the DPR of the first convocation. Corrections were made small and the document is straight with edits, made by pen, brought into the hall. Unfortunately, this version of the Declaration has not survived..
April 7 people, who were in the hall of the Regional State Administration, declared themselves the coordinating council, Andrey Evgenievich says. — The document with edits was brought to the hall, I caught the late Vladimir Makovich, asked Shimanovsky to hold a megaphone. Makovich had a very serious, loud, Levitan's voice, he constantly spoke at rallies. And he read the Declaration through a megaphone. And up to this point about, what is written in the papers, knew only three people, and Makovich was not among them. Declaration was read, and we voted for its text and for the start of preparations for the referendum, who endorsed the Declaration. It was also stated, that the date of the referendum will be determined later. The text contains a reference to the Supreme Council and to the parliamentary republic, which we are not today. we, Unfortunately, we do not comply with this declaration today…»
According to Purgin, these are compressed events 6-7 April, which were the result of a long-term activity in Donetsk since 25 January. On this day, a large conference "Donbass for the Eurasian Union" was held, in which not only residents of the region took part, but also guests from Rostov-on-Don, Voronezh and even from Moscow.
“We went from there and dispersed the “orange” tent city near the monument to Taras Shevchenko. That is, the events in Donetsk began to develop even then. 7 April became, generally, finish line. These were already actions in the legal field for the preparation of a referendum”, Purgin noted..
It will not be superfluous to remind, what's in the referendum, held 11 May 2014 of the year, the absolute majority of the population of the DPR supported the sovereignty of the republic.
Soon Andrey Purgin, Denis Pushilin and Alexander Borodai sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of the Federation Council with a request to send Russian peacekeeping forces to the region and accept the region as part of the Russian Federation as one of the subjects.
Since then the sovereignty of the DPR, as is known, was not transferred to Russia, at the end of May 2014 year, in a technical order, the independence of the republic was declared.
There is something to regret
Andrei Evgenievich is convinced, that the vote for the Declaration of Sovereignty was a historic event, gone down in history.
And the more time passes, the more important this event is, - the interlocutor of FAN is sure. - Maybe, every year what happened then sounds, and looks different ... But all the events of spring 2014 of the year, especially the referendum, which we will remember 11 May, entered the history of Donbass forever. It `s that, what has never happened in the Donbass. In its entire history, this is the first event of such a huge, on a grand scale. The announcement of the declaration of sovereignty and the subsequent referendum - it was actually a revolution".
Purgin, despite six years of war, blockade and a number of controversial events, doesn't regret it, who stood at the origins of the Russian spring in the Donbass. The founder of the "Donetsk Republic" regrets only that, that Ukrainian war criminals led by Poroshenko did not suffer the deserved punishment.
"I don't regret it, what happened then, he told FAN. — 11 May 2014 year Donbass committed its civil feat absolutely voluntarily. Ukraine carried out a punitive operation against, from her point of view, "unfit" population. Ukraine says, that they introduced the ATO, because Strelkov came. But the ATO at the Strelkova exit. I.e, Ukraine began punitive actions against its own population. I only regret, that now, somewhere in The Hague, Poroshenko and a whole group of people are not being tried for murder by 10 to 50 thousands of people, who were killed by the state of Ukraine in the summer 2014 years in the course of a punitive operation against civilians. This is something you can really regret.. Very sorry, that did not happen. Very sorry, Europe, closing your eyes, allowed Ukraine, what did she think, police operation. But in fact, a bloody punitive operation was carried out against the population of Donbass”.
Choice of side and form of existence
The founder of the legendary battalion "Vostok" Alexander Khodakovsky, later known by his call sign "Skif", spring 2014 of the year headed the Donetsk anti-terrorist special unit "Alpha", related to the SBU. Shortly before the historic events in the hall of the Regional State Administration, he returned from Kyiv, where I saw, what happened on Maidan.
"When the moment of watershed came, everyone had to decide, - he recalls. - A good half of my officers voluntarily moved to the other side, and now they are at war with us. Such a dramatic moment ... Naturally, from the moment I took a certain public position, I stopped counting myself as an active employee and applied my experience, their knowledge is already in another field. I had to create a militia and transfer my knowledge to it, skills, skill, understanding, creating from these people a more or less combat-ready unit ".
7 April 2014 Khodakovsky and his associates, including - from among the "alpha", dealt with urgent issues, starting to prepare for the worst options, thinking seriously about, what soon, perhaps, have to fight.
"We didn't know yet., What will happen, and thought, that our opponent will be some radicalist formations, formed from the participants of the Maidan, he notes. - Here we had recruiting centers of the "Right Sector"1 (banned in Russian extremist organization), recruiting our irresponsible youth, which was tested in Kyiv, and then she was preparing to go here by “trains of friendship”.
Khodakovsky already understood then, that it is only a question of timing - when the conflict will begin. But, According to him, the, what will happen, was read from everything and any logic told the Donetsk residents about this.
“At the same time, we saw, how our elite acted, and understood, that she is not on our side, - he states. - Individual owners took out teams of factories and so on, so that they stand for a "united Ukraine". We faced a systemic adversary, who also possessed human, and financial resources. Donetsk law enforcement agencies did not want to fight with their people, but nevertheless the whole apparatus was on the side of the "elite". They formed a united front against us. And we were still disorganized, just formed, still not representing some kind of force. But we didn't have time to swing., and already 9 May we brought ready-made units to Lenin Square ”.
At the same time, a political process was going on in Donetsk. The entire Regional Administration was surrounded by protective equipment in the form of tires, paving stones. Active people held meetings. In the city and the region as a whole, Ukrainian authorities were present in places, not completely left the territory at that time.
Then there was still hope to get from the regional council, represented mainly by the "Party of Regions", some political decisions in terms of a roll towards Russia, towards Moscow. But unfortunately nothing came of them., and, respectively, activists of the Russian Spring had to take control of the situation, into your own hands, and decide on the proclamation of the Donetsk People's Republic.
"It was a political act, at that time still unsubstantiated, rather than declarative, Skiff says. - Well, that's why, when the war started, all our circumstances began, that have been going on for six years, it has become our life and guide to action.”.
At the same time, he reminds, at 2014 the ideas of Novorossia were also very strong in the year, with which the idea of the Donetsk People's Republic competed, as forms of existence of the inhabitants of the region. Khodakovsky remembers well, that then the ideas of Novorossia dominated, and the idea of the DNR was not fundamental.
"We considered, that they are able to leave the South-East in the pro-Russian zone under the control of local government, clean from post-Maidan circumstances, - he adds,. - We considered, who is able to cope with this task. We set ourselves the task of forming Novorossiya, as a more established state, the basis for which were to be the territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Then, over time, circumstances made their own adjustments., and we firmly cemented on the idea of creating the DPR. But for me it's still a form of self-government. To date, we have not been able to realize our plans and objectives., who stood and still stand before us, and we have that, that we have. But I think, that this situation is temporary, And in the future, everything can change radically.”.
For Khodakovsky, the formation of the DPR as a form of existence is an objective and justified phenomenon.. But goals and tasks, facing him and his like-minded people are much wider, and that's where they come from..
According to the founder of the battalion "Vostok", terminology doesn't make sense.. The future state may be called "Novorossia", "Little Russia" or something else, but most importantly, what is the territory, free from the consequences of Maidan.
“At the same time, we should not be limited to some kind of boundary, it must be a permanent job. Well, what can really be done depends on the political situation., and other circumstances. But in any case, we must set ourselves tasks, that do not limit us", Alexander Khodakovsky is convinced.
Recall, what, although the trigger for the start of the conflict in the Donbass was the events in Kyiv, ended in an illegal coup and the rise to power of radical forces, many experts spoke about the possibility of a war in the South-East of Ukraine long before. And it’s not just about Russian experts and political scientists. Several science fiction writers, living on the territory of modern DNR and LNR, the books were released almost at the same time, describing the events, similar to, what has been happening in the Donbass for the past six years.
The conflict is still going on. In violation of the Minsk agreements, the Armed Forces of Ukraine daily shell the territory of the republics, resulting in the death of civilians and defenders of the republics.
1 Organization banned in Russia.
Author: Natalya Makeev
