Last year, on April 7, 2014, the Donetsk People’s Republic declared itself an independent republic and invited Russian soldiers to ensure a referendum on joining the Russian Federation.
Moscow was silent on military support, and Ukrainian law enforcement used limited force to free most of the buildings, not firing weapons at the radicals and thereby denying President Vladimir Putin a pretext to invade.
In the largest seizure of state buildings in several eastern Ukrainian cities, 500 people stormed the Kharkiv Oblast Council building on April 6, 2014, with 5,000 pro-Russia demonstrators (less than 0.5 percent of the city’s population).
Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov wrote on his Facebook page, “Putin and Yanukovych ordered and paid for the latest wave of separatist unrest in the country’s east,” adding that many of those involved were paid provocateurs, including women and children. Mr. Avakov wrote that despite the provocation, “the situation would be brought under control without blood.”
Ukraine’s government launched its anti-terrorist operation (ATO) in Kharkiv two days later. On April 7, 2014, the provocateurs announced the creation of a Kharkiv People’s Republic and set the Kharkiv Oblast Council building on fire after they were evicted by police. During the eviction, the illegal occupants threw grenades and fired at police, reported acting President Oleksandr Turchynov. The police operation involved blocking the surrounding center streets and shutting down the metro system. Out of the 70 that were arrested, 64 were confirmed residents of the Kharkiv Oblast.
In Luhansk, on April 7, 2014, masked and armed Russian separatists took over the local headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). The next day they placed mines throughout the building and took approximately 60 hostages that they released by morning.
Prime Minsiter Arseniy Yatsenyuk told the Cabinet of Ministers, “The numerous protests of several thousands of a month ago have disappeared, but a radical circle now remains of 1,000 to 1,500 individuals in each oblast, with peculiar Russian accents who are coordinating their activity with the intelligence agencies of foreign states.”
Street fights between pro-Ukraine and pro-Russia activists erupted in the cities of Mykolayiv, Kharkiv, and in Cherkasy Vasyl Serhiyenko, 57, was kidnapped from his house, tortured and killed.
Luhansk millionaire Volodymyr Landik claimed that the fugitive ex-president Viktor Yanukovych was financing the local separatists who were being led by Oleksandr Yefremov, the Luhansk head of the Party of Regions.
Mr. Landik explained to espresso.tv: “Why was the SBU taken over, rather than the oblast administration or the internal affairs ministry? A director disloyal to the previous government has come to the SBU. He began to dig through the tenders and all the firms belonging to Yefremov.”
Serhiy Leshchenko from Ukrayinska Pravda claimed that Donetsk billionaire Rinat Akhmetov was leading the Donetsk separatists. “There’s information from trustworthy sources that Akhmetov flew to Moscow in March-April to meet with Putin,” Mr. Leshchenko wrote on his Facebook page. “As I understand it, the result is on the streets of Donetsk today.”
Jock Mendoza-Wilson, director of international and investor relations for Mr. Akhmetov’s System Capital Management, denied the reports.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov on April 7, 2014, to say “these do not appear to be a spontaneous set of events,” supporting the Ukrainian government’s assertion that “this appeared to be a carefully orchestrated campaign with Russian support” and cited recent arrests of Russian intelligence operatives working in Ukraine. Secretary Kerry also called on Russia “to publicly disavow the activities of separatists, saboteurs and provocateurs, calling for de-escalation and dialogue, and called on all parties to refrain from agitation in Ukraine.” On April 8, 2014, Messrs. Kerry and Lavrov agreed to meet the following week with Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Andrii Deshchytsia and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton to find a way to de-escalate the crisis.
This year, Mr. Yefremov was arrested on February 14 in Kyiv for “abuse of power under aggravating circumstances and forgery.” He is also under investigation, with Natalia Korolevska, a national deputy with the former Party of Regions (now renamed the Opposition Bloc), in funding separatism. Before Mr. Yefremov’s release on February 17, after Opposition Bloc party member Borys Kolesnikov paid bail of 3.7 million hrv, he was also charged with inciting ethnic hatred.
Source: “Pro-Russian protesters seize state buildings in Ukraine’s east,” by Zenon Zawada, The Ukrainian Weekly, April 13, 2014.