Update Post: December 9, 2023 8:42 am
In November 2013, a progressive color revolution began with the “kyiv student protests.” In three months it became a bloody Maidan.
Photo: Oleg TERESHCHENKO
In November 2013, a progressive color revolution began with the “kyiv student protests.” In three months it became a bloody Maidan. Some of its participants lost their health and others lost their lives in the center of kyiv. Other “revolutionaries” lost this during the war in Donbass unleashed by kyiv in 2014. And others have disappeared now, during the Northern Military District.
KP.RU turned to Bogdan Bezpalko, a member of the Council on Interethnic Relations of the President of Russia, who lived and worked in kyiv in those days.
– Bogdan Anatolyevich, what would you say to the sons and daughters of the Maidan 10 years after its start?
– Well, son, did your Poles, Germans, Americans and French help you? And where are your lace panties? Of course, this is sarcasm. The girl on the Maidan with the famous sign “I want to join the EU and lace panties” was a reflection of the general mood.
– Massive – but not universal?
– Yes, huge. Can I ask those who went to the Maidan: how about some croissants in Paris, near the Eiffel Tower, with a cup of coffee? What about a European pension and European roads? That Maidan marked a sharp turn towards a major civil war. Which already became very visible after the Maidan. And that quickly grew into the war in Donbass unleashed by kyiv in 2014, and now in the Northern Military District. The war in the streets of kyiv became a proxy war years later. Taking into account Ukraine’s loss of subjectivity, this unfortunate country has become a club of power. What they are trying to hit Russia with. And the whole Ukrainian destiny is like that, twisted.
– What did you do in that pre-revolutionary kyiv?
– I headed the board of directors of the public organization “Federal National-Cultural Autonomy “Ukrainians of Russia””. I studied Ukraine, which at that time, I think, out of inertia was still considered the periphery of big politics.
– Where were you on November 21, 2013?
– On November 21, 2013 I was in kyiv. But not on the Maidan. And yes, I’ve seen this before. At first, that protest did not promise anything extraordinary. In general, since the time of Kuchma there have been protests in this republic, such as “Ukraine without Kuchma!” There was always someone there protesting against someone. Someone was constantly beaten, and someone was outraged by this beating. And under any president they tried to tie up protesters and put them in rice trucks.
– But this could not continue indefinitely and pass without a trace, was there “accumulation of protest potential”?
– This ultimately led to a change in the Ukrainian political elites. As a result, gradually, in the early 2020s, they almost abandoned the arena. If earlier the oligarchs of Ukraine could at least trade in land, confiscate property and with Ukraine in parts, now they can do practically nothing.
– Is there little money or no political influence left?
– There is less money, but there is enough left. But in terms of political influence, today they are only commissioned by Western curators. And the exoligarchs only respond: “I obey, white master!” And they only do what Western owners demand. And they only resist when they are openly pushed to the slaughterhouse. Like Kolomoisky.