23 Feb 2014

Protests between pro-​Yanukovych/​Russia sup­porters and pro-​Maidan sup­porters erupt in Kharkiv and Crimea. The Kharkiv re­gional gov­ernor, an ap­pointee of Yanukovych, Mikhaylo Dobkin, at one point even stated that Yanukovych was too soft on the demon­stra­tions and should have shot them all. Dobkin, and the mayor of Kharkiv, Gennady Kernes, have both ap­par­ently fled. Dobkin is still missing, whereas Kernes re­turned stating he had private busi­ness in Geneva.

Eastern Ukraine is dom­in­ated by a pro-​Russian sen­ti­ment in many ways as a func­tion of years of Russian in­flu­ence and a lack of ac­cess to in­de­pendent media. The (more open) tele­vi­sion sta­tion Kanal-​5 is not al­lowed to be broad­cast in the East, whereas the of­fi­cial tele­vi­sion chan­nels from Russia are given free reign.

The Crimean pen­in­sula is a po­ten­tial area of strife with a ma­jority Russian pop­u­la­tion, many of whom con­tinue to keep their Russian cit­izen­ship (re­tired mil­itary per­sonnel). It is also home to the Russian Black Sea fleet which has a base leased from Ukraine until 2042 (an agree­ment made by Yanukovych). However, the minority Crimean Tatars (res­ident there since the 13^th cen­tury) are adamant in their sup­port of ties with Ukraine. The pen­in­sula has the status of an Autonomous Region with much greater in­de­pend­ence from the central gov­ern­ment than any province in Ukraine.