Valery Kostka: In Ukraine situation reminds a farce with the involvement of many peaceful citizens

Ukrainian intelligent services have to perform anti-terror operation against the “lost souls” rather than against terrorists.

Despite the anti-terror operation (ATO), the situation in the south-eastern Ukraine is getting worse. The authorities failed to free the seized cities; moreover, on May 11 the gunmen held “referendums” on independence of Donetsk People’s Republic and Lugansk People’s Republic.

Why the anti-terror operation, which has been lasting for more than two weeks, is making no progress? Why the Ukrainian authorities didn’t prevent the conduction of “referendums” in Donetsk and Lugansk regions? How did Belarusan red-green flags come to be in the centre of separatism? Why are intelligent services giving no reaction to the recruiting of “voluntary brigades” for the orthodox army of Donbas” that is conducted by the Belarusan department of the Russian National Unity (RNU)?

With these questions EuroBelarus Information Service turned to the former KGB colonel Valery Kostka.

- It is now more than two weeks that the Ukrainian authorities are holding an anti-terror operation in south-eastern Ukraine, though without any particular achievements. National Guard and law enforcement agencies several times won back Slavyansk; however, they never managed to get the city under control. Why is the anti-terror operation making no progress?

- Usually anti-terror operations are conducted against some particular terrorist groups; but in Ukraine the situation reminds a farce with the involvement of numerous peaceful citizens, where cunning terrorists are hiding behind people’s backs without uncovering their faces.

People are politically disoriented; they are given emotional message only to go wild. But nobody knows what they want to get in the future; when the emotions are ruling, good sense is asleep.

Ukrainian intelligent services have to perform an anti-terror operation against the “lost souls” rather than against terrorists. Intelligent services can’t destroy their own people; they are acting pointwise, detecting and destroying separate band groups. Unfortunately, in the south-eastern Ukraine numerous professionals and representatives of Russian intelligent services are concentrated, who are being supplied with a lot of money and armory.

Moreover, under the influence of Ukraine’s eastern neighbor, i.e. under the influence of those who are responsible for today’s farce, Ukraine’s law enforcement system has been turning into less effective over the last years.

There is no doubt that professional training of law enforcement agencies in Ukraine is not enough to fight against separatism, but I wouldn’t blame Ukrainian members of the top brass for that. Even if they were commanded to destroy the terrorists, who would they be destroying? Before November 20 any person in the world could have imagined such absurd situation, when Russia would turn its arms against Ukraine. Anyone who would have dared to say that would be considered crazy.

Two value systems and two state policies have collided, the democratic systemand the dictatorship. Putin got frightened not because Ukrainians overthrew Yanukovich, but because the system that is ruling in Russia collapsed in Ukraine. Maidan that destroyed the dictatorship in Ukraine could have been spread over to Russia.

The fight of good and evil is going on in Ukraine, though the attempts to explain the war by the national conflicts or religious confrontation are being made.

Terrorists and gunmen are trying to attract attention and are creating chaos, anarchy and bloodshed in Ukraine so that Russia would be able to pretend being a “peacekeeping force” and come to Ukraine to pacify the chaos created earlier with its own hands.

- It is obvious that the new government didn’t have time or will to get rid of pro-Russian lobby. Can it be one of the main reasons of today’s Ukraine’s plight?

- We can’t at once say who is representing pro-Russian lobby in Ukraine; moreover, we can’t remove the whole system at once – an evolutionary process when some parts are being substituted by other ones is in process. Immediate disassembly of the whole system can destroy Ukrainian state.

- On May 11 separatists held referendums of independence of Lugansk and Donetsk regions. It is hard to believe that the state, however weak, couldn’t prevent the organizations of these activities. Or might there be some other logics in the actions of Ukraine’s authorities?

- Everyone understands that there were no referendums. The separatists wanted to imitate the expression of popular will, but only managed to demonstrate that some external forces are involved in the conflict.

For the open and thorough discussion of issues which are submitted for a referendum people should have from six to twelve months. How can it be conducted in four days?

Let us assume that the referendum did take place; but what is next? There was a referendum in Crimea, but people didn’t started living better.

Referendum can’t be combined with dictatorship; no expression of popular will, especially free expression, is possible under the policy of diktat, when people are made to vote at gun’s point. It is a political play which will be very difficult to use as an argument for Russia.

- Among the gunmen who are ruling in Donbas there were seen people with official Belarusan red-green flags. Does it mean that Belarusan citizens are also fighting on the side of the separatists?

- Russia is left alone against the whole world. Even in UN Security Council nobody is supporting it; Kazakhstan has distanced itself from all this and is keeping silence. Russia has to demonstrate that being a Union State, Belarus is the only country that supports Russian aggression. These actions are openly provocative, as nobody, even Lukashenka, is interested in raising the red-green flag in the centre of the bloodshed.

I can’t say that there are no Belarusan citizens among the separatists; but they are few and went there only for the sake of money.

-  The Belarusan department of the Russian National Unity (RNU), which is going to fight against the radical “Ukrainian nationalists” and other riffraff, is openly recruiting gunmen at the Belarusan territory. Belarusan intelligent services aren’t giving any reaction to that, though they could have easily arrested RNU recruiters. It is not the weakness of Belarusan intelligent services that is the problem there, isn’t it?

- Intelligent services always represent the instrument of authorities. They are isolating those whom they are told to, so that there is no negative image of the country. Ice hockey world championship is a political event and that is why the opposition is temporary isolated, so that there are no problems with the organization of the championship.

The instrument didn’t get any command, so it isn’t doing anything. I think that the special services are aware of the situation; they merely don’t have any command that they have to execute. It is rather a show of respect to Kremlin.

- But these actions are under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Code, aren’t they?

- Certainly. Recruiting and fomentation of interethnic disagreement are criminally liable. But it is not the law that is ruling in Belarus, it is dictatorship. The use of the Criminal Code is very conventional: for a criminal, there can be found a loophole in the legislation; whereas no Criminal Code is required to detain an opposition activist.