Written by Nikolaus von Twickel
Summary
In the Donetsk „People’s Republic“ two aides to separatist MPs are believed to have been abducted by “DNR” police on espionage charges, in what appears to be an internal power struggle, prompting their party to ask why the label “Ukrainian Spy” serves as pretext for reprisals against dissenters. Meanwhile, the “DNR” admits fuel shortages one month after they began and promises to send trams to Russia.
Trouble brewing for Svobodny Donbass
In Donetsk, the quasi-oppositional Svobodny Donbass (Free Donbass) movement said last week that the aides of its chairman and one of its deputies were abducted, apparently by police.
The movement said in a statement on May 31 that it was unclear who was behind the abductions which took place on May 16, but that days later members of the “DNR” Interior “Ministry’s” organized crime unit showed up at the missing men’s apartments, telling their relatives that they had committed treason and worked for Ukrainian intelligence.
The policemen also seized grenades and ammunition from the apartments, which, according to the statement, they had actually brought with them in order to accuse the abducted of a serious crime. According to unofficial sources, the victims were badly beaten, the statement continues.
While abductions with accusations of spying for Ukraine are thought to be commonplace in both “People’s Republics”, the victims have usually been bloggers, journalists and other activists critical of separatist leaders. It is extremely rare for officially sanctioned political players to raise the subject in public.
But the abducted men, Artyom Kudryavets and Artur Gamara, are both boxers and work for members of the Donetsk “People’s Republic’s” de-facto parliament. Gamara is an aide to Svobodny Donbass deputy Sergei Kovalchuk, Kudravets works for Yevgeny Orlov, who, apart from being a deputy, is chairman of the movement.
The Svobodny Donbass statement is titled “The Ukrainian Spy label as a pretext for reprisals against dissenters in the DNR”, which may actually serve as an accurate description for the political context of numerous recent arrests in both Donetsk and Luhansk.
Svobodny Donbass functions as a quasi-opposition party in the “DNR”, having 30 out of 94 seats in the de-facto parliament – the other 64 members belong to the governing Donetsk Republic movement. Both “People’s Republics” have two political movements who do not call themselves parties, apparently in an attempt to break with the corrupt past of Ukrainian politics.
However, neither parliaments nor opposition parties in both the “DNR” and “LNR” are believed to possess any real influence and Svobodny Donbass has always shown steadfast support for the separatists’ pro-Russian ideals. It does, however, occasionally criticize the current authorities.
The abductions also come one month after a power struggle inside the movement surfaced. On April 21, Svobodny Donbass abruptly canceled a convention in Donetsk, officially because of a fire drill. However, in social media posts collected by the Ukrainian “Novosti Donbassa” news site, activists accused former separatist leader Pavel Gubarev of attempting to bring Svobodny Donbass under his control in the run-up to the separatist leadership election this autumn.
A new date for the convention has not been set. An announcement on Svobodny Donbass’ website merely says that it will be held “in short time”. Gubarev said in a video interview published on 4 June that he had not decided whether to stand in an election or not.
A former Santa-for-hire (he ran a children’s party agency), Gubarev shot to fame in March 2014 when he led the early pro-Russian protests as “people’s governor” in Donetsk. But he was soon arrested and imprisoned by Ukrainian authorities. After his release in May he was sidelined from the separatist leadership, but his wife Yekaterina became a deputy for Svobdny Donbass.
The Gubarevs have occasionally clashed with the “DNR” leadership. In October, Yekaterina Gubareva published video footage showing that armed men were trying to arrest her in Donetsk. Gubareva said that the men were from the Income “Ministry”, which is run by Alexander Timofeyev, a close ally of “DNR” leader Alexander Zakharchenko.
“DNR” leader admits fuel shortages
Svobodny Donbass leader Orlov was also the first to predict the fuel shortages that hit the separatist-held areas since early May (see Newsletter 27). After separatist officials and media did not mention the long lines of cars waiting at petrol stations for one month, “DNR” leader Zakharchenko finally addressed the problem on June 5.
During a press briefing in Donetsk, Zakharchenko said that the problem had been caused by “bungling” and that those responsible would be found. “Don’t worry, there will be fuel, the situation will improve,” he said. He added, however, that the root cause was Russia’s decision to lift a ban on raising prices.
Fuel shortages and price hikes for available supplies have been reported from both Donetsk and Luhansk (see Newsletter 30). However, “LNR” leaders have not commented on the topic so far. Instead, the Luhansk separatists’ main news site lug-info.com published an analysis saying that petrol prices were lower than in Ukraine.
Ten tramways promised for Donetsk
While the separatists’ promises to reorient the economy to Russia because of the economic blockade with Ukraine have not borne much fruit, “DNR” Industry and Trade “minister” Alexei Granovsky promised on June 5 that a plant in Donetsk would produce ten tramways, the first of which would hit the tracks this autumn. Later, Granovsky said, the plant should try to sell trams to Russia.
Granovsky did not say, how the “DNR” would officially export manufactured goods to Russia. This has reportedly been impossible so far because Russia cannot legally import goods from a country that it does not recognize. A lacking basic requirement is a common certification standard.
On May 28 Granovsky announced that the “DNR” will begin to check imports from Russia according to Russian certification standards. To do this, Donetsk authorities had obtained more than 3,000 copies of Russian certification standards. Granovsky argued that this would lower the risk of counterfeit goods reaching the “People’s Republic” via Russia. He did not say when and how “DNR” goods would be exported to Russia.
Separatists discuss integration with Russia in Crimea
Meanwhile, “LNR” separatist leader Leonid Pasechnik and “DNR” parliamentary speaker Denis Pushilin held talks with Crimean leader Sergei Aksyonov on the Russian-annexed peninsula. According to Pushilin, the three discussed the “People’s Republics’” further integration with Russia. However, no further details from the June 5 meeting were immediately available.
Last year, the Crimean State Economic Cooperation Agency pledged to ship household cleaning products and sweets to Donetsk and Luhansk. However, such shipments were never confirmed.
It was also unclear why “DNR” leader Zakharchenko did not travel to Crimea, letting his rival Pushilin steal the show. The official reason for Pasechnik’s and Pushilin’s trip to the Black Sea peninsula is the Velikoe Russkoe Slovo (“Great Russian Word”) Festival of Russian language and culture, which has been held in Yalta since 2007.
