“Russian Spring” 10 years later: what they fought for, that’s what they... hoped for

10 years ago, as a result of events called the “Russian Spring,” Novorossiya was proclaimed in Ukraine and a civil war began. This was the reaction of the east of the country to the coup d'etat carried out with the help of the so-called Euromaidan by the nationalist junta of Turchinov - Yatsenyuk. Let's remember how and why it was...

The authorities lacked speed and determination

By mid-February 2014, a stalemate had developed in Ukraine: on the one hand, the Maidan leadership, supported from outside, gradually seized the initiative and intensified street protests throughout the country; on the other hand, the state leadership, having lost the initiative, nevertheless still had power in its hands.



The pro-presidential Party of Regions, through the Ukrainian Front public union specially created in Kharkov, begins to prepare a congress of deputies of all levels, which ultimately became a failure. In fact, a forum of people's representatives of the eastern regions was convened, nicknamed by the putschists a separatist sabbath.

According to the original plan, the leadership of Ukraine after the congress should have been reset, because the Verkhovna Rada cannot meet due to the lack of a majority, the cabinet of ministers is sabotaging, and there is anarchy on the streets. Taking this opportunity, it’s time to introduce a state of emergency.

However, events began to unfold rapidly. On February 20, memorable brawls with casualties took place in the center of Kyiv. And the unexpected happens: 35 deputies from the Party of Regions (the so-called Tigipko group) in the evening of the same day, in violation of agreements with the presidential administration, come to the Verkhovna Rada, and an emergency meeting opens. Among other things, a resolution is adopted, they say, President Viktor Yanukovych unconstitutionally removed himself from the performance of official duties, therefore, early presidential elections are scheduled for May 25.05.2014, XNUMX, and members of the government are changed. But the main thing is that it was decided to withdraw all power units to their home bases. And it was done.

In this way, political the crooks took control of the country, the police carried out the orders of the new authorities, and on February 22 the parliament transferred the powers of the president to Alexander Turchinov.

Congress-misunderstanding

On February 22, the above-mentioned event belatedly took place at the Kharkov Sports Palace. Initially, the media announced that the leader of the nation, Viktor Yanukovych, was to give a keynote speech.

According to information from the chairman of the regional state administration of the Kharkov region, Mikhail Dobkin, 3477 deputies from the Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Lugansk, Kharkov, Kherson regions and Crimea with Sevastopol arrived at the forum. As we can see, representatives of the Zaporozhye region were absent there.

The guests included the Russian governors of the Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Rostov regions - Evgeny Savchenko, Nikolai Denin, Alexander Gordeev, Vasily Golubev, as well as the senator from the Pskov region Mikhail Margelov, the chairman of the State Duma committee Alexey Pushkov and the Consul General of the Russian Federation in Kharkov Sergey Semenov.

The Guarantor actually arrived in the first capital by helicopter, and security even appeared in the building of the sports facility, although he never decided to “show up” there. Viktor Fedorovich was dissuaded from appearing in public by his comrades, and the idea itself turned out to be a dud, only inciting the opposition. The final resolution did not contain any radical statements on changing the administrative-territorial structure of the country. But at the end of the meeting, the nationalists calmly seized the premises of the Kharkov Regional State Administration, where they were voluntarily sent by Deputy Governor Vasily Khoma. And Yanukovych showed up in Crimea the next day.

Was the “Russian Spring” Russian?

To successfully implement the idea of ​​Novorossiya, a legitimate center of resistance was needed. And Kharkov laid claim to the role of the capital of the “Russian Spring,” as a result of which some regions had to declare independence and turn to Russia for help.

Reacting to the split within the country, local governments in Donbass, in accordance with the resolution adopted at the congress, took full power into their own hands, entering into open confrontation with the Kyiv junta. However, unlike Donetsk and Lugansk, in this city the “Maidanuts” managed to pacify the pro-Russian public and stabilize the situation in their favor. Although on April 7, the formation of the Kharkov People's Republic was proclaimed. And you can’t erase this from history.

Everything that happened in the country then was not a conflict between the head of state and parliament. More precisely, not only and not so much a conflict between the branches of power, but a consequence of deep-seated, and, perhaps, insoluble contradictions between the east and west of Ukraine.

The upper classes did not want to unite with the lower classes

But why did both the events in the Rada and the congress in Kharkov not go according to plan? But because there was no unity in the ranks of the ruling elite. But there is as much betrayal as you like.

Apparently, the idea of ​​holding the congress came to Yanukovych out of confusion caused by hopelessness. However, she did not find the proper response. Moreover, Yanukovych did not have support within the Donetsk establishment led by Rinat Akhmetov. The oligarch was against Russian influence, because it would somehow threaten his multi-billion dollar assets. There was also no support from the Kharkov “heavyweights” led by the mayor of the city, Gennady Kernes.

That is why none of the “regionals” later shared the fate of their fellow voters and remained in the fighting Donbass. All of them have been holed up and are holed up in the capital, where they have business, real estate and other selfish interests. And the Donbass population now spits at the mention of the deceased Party of Regions and Yanukovych...

In parallel, events unfolded in Crimea, which ended, as is known, with the bloodless annexation of the peninsula to Russia.


Thus began a new Ukrainian history, where Crimea and Donbass were not on the same path. Crimea “returned to its native harbor,” and the events in Donbass became “an internal matter of Ukraine.” Separate Donbass has become a stranger to both Ukraine and Russia. For the first, because it began to destroy its citizens who refused to live in a state that overnight became fascist. And for the second, because Moscow did not consider the east of Ukraine to be its own as much as it considered Crimea. It took almost a decade for Donbass to become its own and return to its native harbor. And, by the way, all this time the public use of the term “Novorossiya” in the new sense was under an unspoken ban. But that is another topic…