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Friday, March 29, 2024

Talk of Bloodless Coup in Donetsk; European Countries Resent US Tone; Low Hopes for Peace Talks; War, What Is It Good For?

Courtesy of Mish.

Another bloodless coup in Ukraine is underway. This time, it’s in the Donetsk region.

Should it come to that ending, it would be the third Ukrainian coup in a matter of months (counting the ouster of former president Viktor Yanukovych followed by the coup in Crimea).

Talk of Bloodless, Passive Coup in Donetsk

Please consider Kiev’s Weak Grip on East Falters.

Moscow is only an hour ahead of Donetsk but the inflammatory descriptions emanating from Russia over events in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday were much further distanced from reality.

As President Vladimir Putin was talking of his neighbouring country as being “on the brink of a civil war”, in Slavyansk the conflict was far more psychological than physical. Apart from the occasional fly-past by a single fighter jet and two helicopters, Kiev’s forces kept a low profile throughout the day in the area northeast of Donetsk, where militias and locals have seized or set up vigils at government buildings in several towns and cities.

Rather than civil war, the scene resembled a sort of bloodless, passive coup. “I am a citizen of the Soviet Union,” said one of the mysterious and heavily armed “green men” wearing military camouflage without insignia.

The man refused to give his name but admitted that, like others around him, he had travelled up from Semfiropol in Crimea – the autonomous republic annexed by Russia in March and now already switched to Moscow’s time zone. Many of his comrades sported the black and orange striped ribbon adopted by pro-Russian forces.

All along the main route from Donetsk, and in several adjacent town centres, local people have created and manned an increasing number of makeshift barricades of tyres, often topped by the flags of Russia and the “Donetsk Republic”.

But despite the government’s angry denunciations of the seizures of police offices, administrative buildings and other property, there have been few attempts by local authorities to prevent them and Kiev’s hold on the east appears to be weaker than ever. Despite orders several weeks ago to stop broadcasting Russian television, local people said the channels had been back on air in the Donetsk region since earlier this week.

Easterners who reject calls for a referendum on creating an autonomous republic in Donetsk, a federation or union with Russia – views which opinion polls until recently suggested remained in the a minority – are for the time being keeping their heads down.

Polls Show Majority in Donetsk Prefer Alliance with Russia

In spite of all the talk, the government in Kiev seems unable or unwilling to take Donetsk by force. Why should it? …

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