Written by Nikolaus von Twickel<\/p>\n
Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n Both \u201cPeople\u2019s Republics\u201d relaxed quarantine rules before military parades planned for 24 June, despite growing numbers of COVID-19 infections. The economic fallout of the pandemic was highlighted when another coalminers\u2019 strike in the \u201cLNR\u201d prompted the separatists to introduce internet blockades and a curfew. The \u201cLNR\u201d again postponed publishing the results of the census held in October 2019.<\/p>\n Quarantine relaxations despite fresh infections<\/strong><\/p>\n The de-facto authorities in Donetsk and Luhansk lifted key quarantine restrictions despite steadily rising numbers of coronavirus infections. The \u201cLNR\u201d on 10 June allowed<\/a> shops, restaurants, cinemas and nightclubs to reopen. It also said that sports matches could be held with spectators. On 16 June, free bus rides<\/a> for elderly were reintroduced and libraries<\/a> reopened. The \u201cDNR\u201d was more cautious, allowing<\/a> sports events only without spectators and opening a few venues, like the Donetsk botanical gardens<\/a>.<\/p>\n The relaxations were not matched by infection numbers. On 18 June, the \u201cDNR\u201d reported<\/a> 37 new cases and seven deaths within the past 24 hours \u2013 the highest daily death toll since the virus officially broke out<\/a> at the end of March. The overall number of cases rose to 926, including 52 deaths. The \u201cLNR\u201d on 18 June reported<\/a> a total of 466 cases, including 11 deaths. The Luhansk separatists had not reported any new figures since 6 June<\/a>, when the numbers stood at 429 and nine deaths.<\/p>\n The total numbers confirmed by the separatists thus stood at 1,392 cases and 63 deaths. Assuming a resident population of 2.5 million, this translates into 57 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, less than Ukraine\u2019s 83 and much less than Russia\u2019s 382<\/a>. However, compared to the adjacent government-controlled areas of Ukraine, which have a roughly similar population size, the figures from the \u201cPeople\u2019s Republics\u201d look much less good \u2013 as of 18 June, the Donetsk region reported<\/a> 349 cases and 8 deaths, the Luhansk region<\/a> just 68 cases and no deaths.<\/p>\n Contact line openings might end hardship<\/strong><\/p>\n On 18 June the \u201cLNR\u201d finally announced<\/a> that it was opening the \u201ccontact line\u201d with Ukraine the next day \u2013 after three months\u2019 closure. However, while \u201cLNR\u201d residents will be allowed to cross into government-controlled areas, non-residents will need to prove pressing family reasons<\/a> in order to be allowed to travel the other way.<\/p>\n The \u201cDNR\u201d argued that infection rates in government-controlled areas do not allow a full opening. Separatist leader Denis Pushilin said during a televised<\/a> question and answer show on 17 June<\/a>\u00a0 that people could be allowed to leave, but those entering the \u201cDNR\u201d should be on humanitarian lists and undergo two weeks of quarantine. Ukraine on 10 June opened two crossing-points, one in Stanytsia Luhanska, the other in Marinka west of Donetsk. However, the separatists refused<\/a> to let people cross and accused Ukraine of acting unilaterally, leaving dozens of people stranded at closed checkpoints.<\/p>\n The separatists also continued<\/a> to deny passage to the Monitors of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe\u2019s (OSCE). Mission members have been denied passage through the contact line in either direction since late March on the pretext of the quarantine measures.<\/p>\n Before the coronavirus crisis, the crossing points along the contact line were used by up to one million people each month \u2013 mainly pensioners from the People\u2019s Republics who needed to register in order to pick up Ukrainian payments on the government-controlled side. The large numbers of people at the crossings also raised fears of coronavirus spreading among elderly patients who are more likely to fall ill.<\/p>\n Parade participants get testing <\/strong><\/p>\n Despite the risks, the separatists insisted on holding victory parades on 24 June, in line with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered a parade in Moscow that day, the date on which the Soviet Union held its first victory parade in 1945. The \u201cDNR\u201d staged a major parade rehearsal<\/a> in Donetsk on 18 June with 2,500 men and women, most of them wearing face masks<\/a>, while the \u201cLNR\u201d held a smaller rehearsal<\/a> outside Luhansk on 12 June. Both \u201cRepublics<\/a>\u201d said that all participants will be tested<\/a> for coronavirus.<\/p>\n The separatists had hesitated to cancel their parades on this year\u2019s 75th<\/sup> anniversary of the end of World War II, doing so only after Putin on 17 April cancelled the traditional 9 May parade in Moscow because of coronavirus (see Newsletter 74<\/a>). While a growing number of Russian regions decided to opt out of the new date in June out of fear over more infections (by 16 June<\/a> 17 regions had cancelled), this seems no option for Donetsk and Luhansk.<\/p>\n Russian passport-holders to vote in Putin\u2019s referendum<\/strong><\/p>\n Putin\u2019s rush to stage a parade in Moscow has been explained by his desire to push through a constitutional amendment despite falling ratings amid Russia\u2019s poor performance in the coronavirus epidemic. The amendment would allow him to serve as Russian President for another two six-year terms after 2024. Putin has called a referendum on 1 July in which voters can approve or decline the changes.<\/p>\n The Kremlin leader decreed in 2019 that Ukrainians can get Russian citizenship fast-track if they hold \u201crepublican\u201d passports, and by April<\/a> some 200,000 received passports, according to separatist officials. While both Pushilin<\/a> and his Luhansk colleague Leonid Pasechnik<\/a> have called for participation and Russian passport-holders from the \u201cPeople\u2019s Republics\u201d are likely to vote in favor of Putin (who allowed them to become Russians), it is unlikely that they will make a difference among the 110 million<\/a> voters. Moreover, participants will have to travel to the neighbouring Russian Rostov region as there will be no polling stations in Donetsk or Luhansk.<\/p>\n The number of Russian passport-holders in the People\u2019s Republics\u201d is set to rise further as the separatists introduced regulations that discriminate those with Ukrainian passports. Thus, \u201cDNR\u201d leader Pushilin decreed on 19 May<\/a> that holders of Ukrainian passports issued in April 2014 or later must get \u201cDNR\u201d-passports for legal residence and other administrative purposes.<\/p>\n The \u201cLNR\u201d said on 16 June<\/a> that it will allow people picking up their Russian passports to travel there. The borders with Russia were officially closed in late March.<\/p>\n Miners\u2019 strike ends after wages are paid<\/strong><\/p>\n The economic fallout of the COVID-19-crisis was highlighted again when the \u201cLNR\u201d took unprecedented steps to suppress the second strike in a coalmine since it announced the \u201crestructuring\u201d of its coal sector in April. On 5 June more than 100 workers in the Komsomolskaya mine in Antratsyt went on strike to demand payment of outstanding wages. In a letter to executives, published<\/a> by the anonymous \u201cLugansk Inside\u201d Telegram and Vkontakte<\/a> account, the miners complained that they had received no payments from March and April. According to \u201cLugansk Inside\u201d, 128 coal workers took part and refused to return over ground.<\/p>\n As with the previous strike in Sorynsk (see Newsletter 75<\/a>), official media nowhere mentioned the strike. Moreover, separatist authorities tried to impose a wide-ranging information blockade by cutting off transport and communication links from Antratsyt and another mining town, Rovenki, where local mine<\/a>rs had joined the protest: \u201cLNR\u201d chief doctor Dmitry Dokashenko claimed that transport had to be severed because of a spike in COVID-19 infections in these towns. However, the news item<\/a> on the official LITs news site was published on 8 June at 5am, and in a video address<\/a>, Dokashenko is seen reading out a statement robot-like, without looking into the camera.<\/p>\n Furthermore, mobile phone communications were disabled. The Ukrainian operator Vodafone said<\/a> on 9 June that its local transmitters had been cut off from electricity. Outages were also reported<\/a> for some key internet sites, including YouTube and Vkontakte<\/a>, the most widely used social network in Russia and the region, as well as the Russian-run pro-separatist news sites<\/a> \u201cRusskaya Vesna\u201d and \u201cAntifashist\u201d.<\/p>\n The protest grew more desperate on 10 June<\/a>, when the strikers began to refuse food except bread and water and demanded security guarantees for their families and themselves \u2013 apparently prompted by reports of detentions<\/a> by the infamous \u201cState Security\u201d Ministry. The miners gave up their strike<\/a> after eight days on 13 June, amid reports<\/a> that they were promised that their outstanding salaries will be paid. However, the transport restrictions under the pretext of coronavirus were relaxed<\/a> only on 16 June.<\/p>\n Doubts about the suppression\u2019s success<\/strong><\/p>\n The protest, while limited in time and size, highlights the precarious stability in the \u201cLNR\u201d, the smaller and poorer of the two \u201cPeople\u2019s Republics\u201d. While neither local separatist leader Leonid Pasechnik nor any other official and\/or media mentioned the strike in public, the main separatist mouthpiece LITs published a string of statements<\/a> from officials and trade unionists praising the ongoing \u201creorganization\u201d of the coal sector.<\/p>\n The Soviet-style communications policy prompted (anonymous) commentators to argue<\/a> that the internet blockades actually made more people aware of the protest and prompted much ridicule, especially when Pasechnik congratulated<\/a> the very journalists who reported nothing about the strike on their professional holiday on 14 June.<\/p>\n The \u201cLNR\u201d announced a \u201crestructuring\u201d of its coal sector in April, saying that at least five unprofitable mines will be closed and promising new jobs and\/or financial compensation to laid-off workers (see Newsletter 74<\/a>). The Komsomolskaya mine is not earmarked for closure but was transferred from one state holding to another, meaning that workers could no longer claim wage arrears to be paid.<\/p>\n The long-looming economic crisis was exacerbated by the coronavirus outbreak and the oil price crash, both of which hit the Russian economy hard. Since both \u201cPeople\u2019s Republics\u201d can sell their coal and steel only via Russia, their exports have plunged. Between 2016 and 2019, these exports amounted to 3.5 million tons, according to a 12 June investigation<\/a> by the Washington Post, but recent Russian customs data<\/a> suggest that the numbers have fallen dramatically in 2020.<\/p>\n There is widespread concern that pit closures will destroy the economic backbone of many towns, especially in the Luhansk region, where there is little other economic activity. The main metallurgy plant in the \u201cLNR\u201d, the Alchevsk Metals Factory (known by its Russian acronym AMK) reportedly stopped production<\/a> again on 10 June.<\/p>\n Financial difficulties also in the \u201cDNR\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Payment difficulties are also affecting the \u201cDNR\u201d, where separatist leader Denis Pushilin publicly scolded lower officials for allowing wage arrears. During a televised question and answer show on 17 June, Pushilin ordered<\/a> energy \u201cMinister\u201d Ruslan Dubovsky to ensure that payments in the coal sector would be made on time. Pushilin did not say where the money should come from but referred to a meeting with scientists one day earlier where he encouraged<\/a> them to develop new technologies to process coal in order to sell at higher prices.<\/p>\n In a meeting with \u201cgovernment\u201d officials on 9 June, Pushilin ordered<\/a> Donetsk railway chief Vladimir Kabatsy to see that wages for April and May will be paid, and again<\/a> asked prosecutors to control the process.<\/p>\n