Written by Nikolaus von Twickel
Summary
Amid rising COVID19-infections and after months with no access to vaccines, Russia shipped its “Sputnik light” single-dose vaccine to Donetsk and Luhansk. A “DNR” official admitted that graduates rarely stay in the republic” after receiving Russian-style diplomas, while separatist leaders continued to bring “integration with Russia” into all spheres of life, including fitness. Kyiv finally lifted fines for Ukrainians from the “People’s Republics” for entering their country via Russia.
Russia sends “Sputnik light”
Russia sent two shipments of COVID19-vaccine to Donetsk and Luhansk, but of the single-component “Sputnik Light” variety and in limited quantity given that the local population has had practically no access to vaccines since February despite consistently high case numbers and a death toll that is among the highest in Europe.
The first delivery arrived in Makiivka (close to Donetsk) and Luhansk on 28 July, a second was expected on 9 August. “Sputnik Light”, registered in Russia in May, is basically the first dose of the two-component Sputnik V. It has a lower effectiveness than both components (officially 79.4 versus 92 per cent) and its promotion has been explained by the fact that production of Sputnik’s second component is dogged by difficulties leading to supply shortages.
The separatists immediately began administering the doses and launched propaganda campaigns aiming to make vaccination popular. As in the past, the “DNR” published some information, while the “LNR” released almost nothing. Donetsk separatist leader Denis Pushilin said on 26 July that the first party for the “DNR” would contain 86,000 doses. The second party was supposed to contain 90,000 doses, according to health “minister” Alexander Oprishchenko. The “LNR” released no figures about the number of doses. Health “minister” Natalya Pashchenko merely said that vaccination would be offered throughout the “republic”.
It is unclear how many people have already been vaccinated. Oprishchenko claimed that the number in the “DNR” was 50,000, but he did not say if those were all fully vaccinated. Both “republics” have received two shipments of the two-component Sputnik V, one in February and one in March.
The separatists reiterated that their aim was to achieve “collective” (herd) immunity. However, while “LNR” leader Leonid Pasechnik did not specify how many people need to be vaccinated, Oprishchenko said that 70 per cent of 2.3 million inhabitants would need to be immunized by winter. Oprishchenko’s “ministry” even announced that a re-vaccination campaign would begin in September.
The real population in the “People’s Republics” is thought to be much lower – 1.1 million in the “DNR” and 0.7 million in the “LNR” (see Newsletter 83). In addition, the number of people who have been infected must be many times higher than official figures of almost 50,000 (“DNR”) and 7,000 (“LNR”) respectively. The “DNR” figures reveal that positive rates are consistently above 20 per cent, pointing to a massive shortage of tests. However, even with 130,000 doses the share of vaccinated in the “DNR” is just well below 20 per cent.
Number of infections rise again
As of 6 August, the total caseload in the “DNR” stood at 49,923, the total death toll at 3,697. Assuming a population of 1.1 million, this translates into a death toll of 3,361 per 1 million – significantly worse than Hungary’s 3,108 per million – Europe’s hardest-hit country.
Moreover, there were signs that the recent COVID19-wave in Russia is now moving into the “People’s Republics”. The “DNR” reported 1,764 infections and 87 deaths in the week until 8 August. In the previous weeks, it reported 1,492 cases and 82 deaths (up to 1 August), 1,090 cases / 90 deaths (up to 25 July) and 969 cases / 52 deaths (up to 18 July).
The “LNR” figures are of little credibility, but if compared week by week they, too, reveal a worsening situation. 503 new cases and 54 deaths in the week up 8 August compared to 518 cases / 40 deaths and 390 cases / 33 deaths in the previous two weeks.
Both “People’s Republics” have more or less closed their de-facto borders with Ukraine proper, while the border with Russia remains open. Experts expect a further rise in COVID19-figures as more people return from summer holidays. Ukraine on 28 July began offering vaccinations to Ukrainian citizens from the “LNR” at the Stanitsya Luhanska crossing point in the Luhansk region.
87 per cent of graduates want to leave – official
In a rare admission of catastrophic brain-drain, a “DNR” official complained that almost 90 per cent of graduates leave after receiving Russian diplomas. “87 per cent of (our) young people no longer link their fate to the republic after receiving Russian-style diplomas,” Alexander Kofman, the head of the “DNR” public chamber said in a television interview on 29 July. Kofman compared this to South Ossetia, where, he claimed, young people practically never want to leave, despite even harsher economic conditions.
Kofman, who served as “DNR” foreign minister until being sacked in 2016, was interviewed about a recent trip to the breakaway Georgian region, which has close ties with the Donbas separatists.
The separatists have championed the introduction of Russian-style certificates at local schools and universities for some time. Kyiv, on the other hand, is actively wooing school leavers to enroll in Ukrainian universities (see Newsletter 88).
The “People’s Republics” suffer from severe labour shortages not just among graduates but in all spheres of the economy. Donetsk city authorities apologized in July that trams and trolleybuses were running with interruptions because some 60 per cent of drivers’ jobs were unfilled. A recent post by the “Donetsky Aborigen” Telegram channel argued that emigration and brutal repression were both to blame for the lack of any serious resistance to the ongoing economic gloom. “People just quietly pack their things and leave, while active protests that might elicit systemic change are being crushed and transformed into passivity – rejection and quiet sabotage”, the anonymous author said.
Weightlifting for integration with Moscow
Separatist leaders tirelessly continued their campaign for integration with Russia. Thus, on 5 August “DNR” leader Pushilin published a video of himself doing some weightlifting and calling on citizens to join an “all-Russian workout” on 7 August in a Donetsk park. The event was officially supported by Young Guard, the youth wing of President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party.
Last month, United Russia began campaigning for the September State Duma elections in Donetsk and Luhansk (see Newsletter 91). Campaigning since has been rather modest, however, the most discernible event being a series of conferences at communal level, to discuss the “party’s importance” to the local population.
Party officials and separatist leaders have called on the more than 500,000 Russian passport-holders among the local population to participate in the elections online, after Russia’s Election Commission temporarily lifted regulations that limit voting outside the country to Consulates and Embassies.
However, voters need to pre-register online, a coordinated campaign for which was launched in both Donetsk and Luhansk on 2 August. Two days later, election officials in Rostov, the Russian region that borders Donetsk and Luhansk, said that they received just 2,277 registrations from newly-minted Russian citizens.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry complained that the engagement of the local population in Russian elections amount to “a flagrant violation of norms and principles of international law, the Constitution of Ukraine and Ukrainian legislation”.
Zelenskiy signs law that lifts fines for illegal exit
In a significant humanitarian move, Ukraine finally stopped fining its citizens for entering the country via Russia. A law that abolishes the fines for illegally exiting the country was finally signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on 22 July – three weeks after it was passed by parliament.
The “DNR” has kept all of its four crossing points into government-controlled areas closed since the begin of the pandemic, while allowing one crossing point to operate only two days a week for “approved individuals”. The “LNR” only has one pedestrian-only crossing point in Stanitsya Luhanska, with the additional limitation that locals may cross only once a month.
The closures force many people to take long routes through Russia to enter Ukraine, where they then face fines for having illegally left Ukraine via the non-government-controlled part of the border with Russia. Ukrainian human rights lawyer Tetyana Luzan said on 1 August that at least 28,000 people been forced to pay fines since 2020. Luzan also complained that Ukrainian border guards were implanting the law very narrowly, implying that those who could not prove a humanitarian reason for their trip continued to be fined.
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(featured image by Jeroen Akkermans, used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
