33  Donbas genocide?

Abstract

Genocide in Donbas? Not by Ukraine, established the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM). Responsible is Russia with war crimes like MH17.

Keywords

Girkin, Milchakov, DPR, LPR, MH17

Myth
  • Ukraine started the war in Donbas
  • Kyiv plans a genocide in Donbas
  • Ukraine shells civilians in Donbas
  • Russian troops stop genocide in Donbas

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Truth
  • Donbas is Ukraine
  • Russia started the war against Ukraine in Donbas1
  • Ukraine defended its territory
  • Ukraine did not conduct genocide
  • Russia planned and conducts genocide in Ukraine
  • Russia shells civilians in Donbas
  • Russia destroys complete cities in Donbas

33.1 Donbas is Ukraine

Luhansk and Donetsk regions are parts of Ukraine, with a long history of ethnic Ukrainians and minorities living on its territory. According to the results of voting at the All-Ukrainian referendum, 83.9 % of the total number of voters in the Donetsk region voted for the declaration of independence in 1991,2 and 83.8 % in Luhansk.

On December 24, 1998, the Law of Ukraine “On Special Economic Zones and a Special Regime of Investment Activity in Donetsk Oblast” was adopted, which created a favorable investment climate in the region. 22 cities and 5 districts of the region have been granted priority development territory status, and two special economic zones “Donetsk” and “Azov” have been created with preferential tax regimes.

This made the region the second largest in the gross regional product after Kyiv during 2005–2013.3

Despite economic prosperity, Russia pictured the Ukrainian government as hostile to the Donbas region. And it was long planned.

33.2 Russia started the war

Russia trained mercenaries in Moscow and sent them to donbas, masked them as “separatists” and then sent heavy weapons.4

Pro-Russian separatism was incited by Russian political technologists, who kept claiming that “Donbas5 was feeding the whole Ukraine”.6 The pro-Russian interpretation of the history of “Novorossiya”7 was promoted. However, local separatists weren’t supported by a majority of the local population. In polls in March 2014, 16.6% of respondents in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions were in favor of secession as an autonomous region, and 26.8% were in favour of joining the Russian Federation. At the same time, almost 90% stated that they considered Ukraine to be their home.8 Russia intensified its information campaign to discredit the Ukrainian Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity. The public was intimidated by the “fascist revolt” in Ukraine, and the newly established Ukrainian government was called a “military junta.”9

While picturing that in Lugansk and Donetsk locals revolted against the newly established government of Ukraine, within a few weeks, it became increasingly clear that irregular fighters from Russia played a key role in the alleged uprisings and were largely represented in leadership positions.

The “defense minister” of the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic” was the Moscow-born nationalist, intelligence officer and warlord Igor Girkin, while the “prime minister” was the extremist Aleksander Borodai, from Moscow as well, who now sits in the Duma for Putin’s United Russia party.10

During this time, radical groups such as Wagner11, separatist formations supported by the Russian Federation - the “Russian Orthodox Army”12, the “Sparta Battalion”131415 – and regular Russian soldiers “on vacation” were already fighting against Ukraine.16 The Russian armed forces also shelled Ukraine with artillery from their territory 10 years ago.17

The downing of the MH17 passenger plane by Russian forces in July 2014 was a tragic highlight of the fighting. Russian warlord Igor Girkin initially proudly boasted about the catastrophe on his channels before realizing that it was not a military aircraft but a civilian plane, whereupon he removed his post.1819 Igor Girkin, along with Sergey Dubinskiy and Leonid Kharchenko, were found guilty by the Dutch court for the downing of MH17.20

See also the chapter on russian denial Chapter 29.

Alexey Milchakov, an active member of the extremist unit “Rusich” and an open neo-Nazi, was already involved in the fighting at the time. After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he called for “de-Ukrainisation” and the eradication of Ukraine as a state. 2122

33.3 Ukraine defended its territory

Russia has long demonized the actions of the Ukrainian government associated with its defense policy. Russian propaganda presented the happenings in the east of Ukraine as a civil war. This convenient narrative helped Russia to distance itself and its armed forces from the conflict, as well as to portray the Ukrainian government as the murderer of the population of the Eastern regions. Ukraine as a sovereign state has the authority to enforce its law on its territory, through the exercise of executive and judicial power, as well as interdict any attempted forceful efforts threatening its territorial integrity or the life and health of its citizens. That was the key purpose of the established on 14 April 2014 by the Ukrainian President’s Decree23 operation that enacted the decision of Ukraine’s NSDC “On Urgent Measures for Overcoming Terrorist Threat and Preserving Ukraine’s Territorial Integrity”.

On April 30, 2018, the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) started and replaced the anti-terrorist operation (ATO). This happened because ATO was an internal operation designed to combat terrorism, and it didn’t establish that Ukraine was dealing with an external aggressor. ATO was mainly led by volunteer battalions. On January 18, 2018, the Parliament adopted The Law “On the Peculiarities of the State Policy on Ensuring the State Sovereignty of Ukraine over the Temporarily Occupied Territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts.”24 The purpose was to create the necessary legal conditions for restoring the territorial integrity of Ukraine in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, expanding opportunities for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The main change concerned the command center: ATO had been overseen by the Anti-terrorist Center of Ukraine’s Security Service, and JFO was strategically led by the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Under the new JFO classification, the area previously called “non-governmental-controlled areas” was formally described as “temporarily occupied territories” in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions controlled by the Russian occupation administration.

The reason for protecting civilians was invoked in February 2022. In his speech marking the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated: “The goal of the special operation is to protect people who have been subjected to harassment and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years”.25

33.4 No genocide by Ukraine

Since 2014, Russian authorities have repeatedly made unsubstantiated accusations against Ukraine of genocide in Donbas. Claims by Russian authorities26 and pro-Russian sources that Ukraine allegedly carried out genocide in Donbas became an important propaganda narrative intended to justify Russia’s invasion.

Mass killings of civilians are a prerequisite for events to be recognized as “genocide.” However, no international human rights organization monitoring the situation with human rights in Donbas since 2014 has confirmed mass intentional killings of the population of this region by Ukraine. There was an international observer mission stationed in Ukraine, officially known as OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), which started its activities on 21 March 2014 and discontinued its operations on 31 March 2022. The SMM was established after Ukraine’s government requested assistance from the OSCE, and all 57 OSCE member states agreed unanimously. It was a non-armed, civilian mission, active for 24 hours. The primary responsibilities included impartially monitoring and reporting on Ukraine’s security conditions and fostering communication between conflict parties. The SMM did not discover any evidence of genocide 27. Russia has not officially appealed to the UN Office on Genocide Prevention or any other international body regarding genocide and ethnic cleansing issues and has not presented any specific evidence to support its accusations against Ukraine. When demanding the dismissal of Ukraine’s lawsuit against Russia, Russian lawyers emphasized that until Ukraine filed the lawsuit, Russia had not taken any formal action against Ukraine in connection with accusations of genocide.

33.5 Russia conducts genodice

Russia planned Chapter 40 and conducts Chapter 41 genocide in Ukraine.

33.6 Russia shells civilians in Donbas

See Chapter 91.

33.7 Russia destroys complete cities

See Chapter 105.

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