In the Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) 1,500 persons were expelled from the Batkivshchyna party, including more than 700 deputies of different levels. "Currently, 1,519 party members got under the lustration, among them - 726 deputies of various levels. As a result of inspections, they were discharged from the party and factions of the All-Ukrainian Association Batkivshchyna in local ranks. The inner party lustration will continue." The so-called lustration ['purifying' of former - corrupt - government officials] commissions are operating in all regions, except, so far, for Donetsk and Luhansk. The Batkivshchyna party ranks generally include almost 600,000 Ukrainians.
Reports from Donetsk write of children being recruited to join the ranks of the pro-Russian separatists. It is just another example of the mentality engrained into many people living in Eastern Ukraine that the Kyiv government and Maidan are a force of evil. This is all working to Russia (Putin)'s favour, even though he is benefiting from already disenfranchised, and poorly educated, demographics:
The apple does not fall far from the tree, though: his parents approved of sending him off to fight against the Ukrainian army, and his father is also a member of the notorious Vostok Battalion, one of the many terrorist groups to emerge in eastern Ukraine that is largely made up of Russians and Chechens. He’s been indoctrinated to believe tropes typical of Russian propaganda. Andrew says he’ll fight to the death against what he calls “the junta” because “we have nowhere to retreat.” He believes his cause is defending against a “true genocide.”
In Donetsk, the terror continues as groups ravage the cities and country-side with continued attacks, kidnappings, robberies and violence. The Ukrainian military continues to be active fighting against the pro-Russian groups, but there is little cohesion on the part of the pro-Russian groups, which means that attacks and retaliation are fragmented and seem to be unpredictable. What is known is that the pro-Russian groups continue to be armed with military-issued weapons, whose only origin can be Russia.
Comments
Post a Comment