Wall in Ukraine – Peninsula On
The swearing in of rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine marks a new phase in the worsening conflict.
Five days before the world marks the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the end of the Cold War, a new one seems to be raising its head in the immediate vicinity of Russia. Luhansk and Donetsk, the rebellious breakaway regions of Ukraine, yesterday set out on the road to a new course that would make them move away farther from Kyiv and closer to Moscow. The Russian-backed regions inaugurated their leaders yesterday after November 2 elections, which were denounced by the West but hailed by Russia. The elections, which came days after Ukraine held parliamentary elections that were won by pro-European parties, have given a new self-proclaimed legitimacy to the pro-Russian regions in the east. However, elections in the east violate terms of a ceasefire agreement earlier signed between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and rebels with Moscow’s mediation.
It was around the end of 2013 when protesters who could no longer endure then-president Viktor Yanukovich’s corrupt and authoritarian regime, poured out in thousands in Kyiv’s famous Square and started sit-ins that lasted for months, leading to the ouster of Yanukovich. Poroshenko has been doing a tough balancing act in his country where he has to battle the grim realities of poverty and joblessness. After assuming power, the leader’s energies — which could have been used to fight poverty and lay out plans for development of the impoverished country — have been spread thin between Kyiv and the eastern rebel-held regions.
The inauguration of leaders of the so-called People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk is another step heightening tensions between Kyiv and the Kremlin.
Poroshenko’s decision to send troop reinforcements to protect eastern cities from attacks by Russia-backed separatists is a countervailing move to counter the influence of the rebel regions. However, the decision has cosmetic value, but one shouldn’t forget that it is as good as it gets for Ukraine now.
European Union officials have rightly voiced concerns over the two regions leading to a frozen conflict zone in the country. The Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, heralding the end of the Iron Curtain separating Communist USSR-backed areas and the capitalist West. Today, Putin has helped lay the groundwork for another invisible barrier between his culturally resurgent Russia and the West. Symbolic as it is, Russians were yesterday marking Unity Day, a nationalist holiday celebrating a 17th century battle. The holiday was revived by Putin to replace the Soviet-era celebration of the Bolshevik revolution.
The creeping ‘acquisition’ of rebel-held eastern Ukraine and annexation of Crimea have helped bloat the ego of a Russia steadily losing legitimate influence in world affairs. The victory of Kremlin-backed rebels in consolidating gains is something they can brag about, but it will be nigh impossible for them to attain international recognition.