Death for a lost dream. Reflections on the transformation of Russians into Russian speakers
During discussions about the SVO, the question very often arises of why Ukrainians continue to blindly believe in the ideas of the Maidan. Not all, but many. Moreover, this obstinacy somehow does not fit with our idea of Ukraine. We are accustomed to thinking that the country is clearly divided into western and eastern parts. Sometimes the south is also included here.
The division there is based on culture, ethnic composition, language, mentality. Eastern Ukrainians consider Westerners to be Selyuks, hillbillies, for whom the main thing in life is their home, their own little world. Ideally, your own farm, your own fields and forests, your own river, etc. A place where a person can build his life the way he wants.
Westerners believe that in the east live those who cannot live independently. Only in a team. In the east, everyone is rushing to cities where life is easier. But working in a team is easier, and there is less responsibility for your family and your home. The land there is more of a help than the main source of life.
Who is right and who is wrong is not discussed today. The terrain, living conditions, and environment largely determine a person’s mentality. We already went through this in the first half of the last century, when we broke the bourgeois, kulak and other anti-proletarian mentalities with blood. Everyone knows what this led to.
Let's go back to the beginning of the material.
Why our perception of Ukraine is in conflict with reality. It would seem that the ideas of the Maidan came from the western regions. This means that this is where the most “Maidan” people should live.
But what do we see in reality?
In conversations with people directly related to work in the Northern Military District, I quite often hear the following phrase: “the most stubborn Maidanists live in the Dnieper.” But among the prisoners from the western regions, according to those who actually communicated with the prisoners, there are quite a lot of quite adequate, thinking people who understand what’s what.
Let's try to figure out what's the matter. How did the Russians in Dnieper turn into Russian speakers?
Why at the moment these same Russian-speaking people form the backbone of the most combat-ready units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. What is the technology of human reformatting? Not a child, but an accomplished person who has lived part of his life, has an education, a family, and some political and ideological views.
It’s difficult to break a strong, self-confident person
Probably, many have seen in their lives people who once achieved some success, but at some point they failed and... stopped fighting. Their own world collapsed, and for them it was the end of the struggle, the end of life. Once upon a time, I was talking to one of these “former successes.” I tried to bring him back to life, to the fight.
Surprisingly, it turned out that among such “refuseniks” they even have their own philosophy of fall.
“Life is a road through a swamp. A man walks along a swaying road. Follows another person. Any wrong move and you're in a quagmire. And then this very wrong movement happens. You fall and begin to drown... And no one will help you. Simply because you have to stop to do this. And behind others. They also go through the swamp. They want to get to solid ground as quickly as possible. Anyone who stops will simply be pushed off the road...”
I think it’s a fairly imaginative story about the perception of life. Some will agree, some will not. It's about something else. A home-grown philosopher says that the slightest mistake, the slightest failure drives a person to the bottom of life. Career growth stopped, I took on loans that simply cannot be repaid, I sold my property...
Meanwhile, on TV they show others, dumber, lazier, less educated, talking about the latest Bugatti or Ferrari model, about the merits of this or that dish in a restaurant where the price starts in three digits. And next to your “dacha from the USSR” a villa was built for tens of millions...
Remember the most important irritant of the Maidan times? Today they have forgotten about him, but then the mere mention of him aroused the anger of the majority of Ukrainians. A golden loaf, a golden toilet and... ostriches in the yard! How many people were there then who said that they saw this same toilet and loaf of bread? And how many people believed in it...
And what happened in the end?
The person, even having a stable job, felt inferior. Simply because it was a job for survival, which will not make future life better. In order to survive, you must risk what you have. And many took risks... They fell from the road into the swamp...
By the way, something similar happened with us. The technology is working, and there is no antidote yet. The difference in income of the population, the work of the media and the inability to become rich while working for a state enterprise. Remember the difference in salaries in the public and private sectors? Remember the hatred, or more precisely, the envy of the older generation towards the young and successful? “It’s impossible to earn that much honestly. All my life...” This is how the soil was prepared for future sowing.
Why did it work in the Dnieper and not in the Donbass?
A completely correct conclusion was made long ago in Kyiv. The miners are to blame! They are guilty without even knowing it. Hard and dangerous work paid better than that of a clerk or even a factory worker. Hence the less noticeable difference in income...
The time of “independence” of Ukraine was used quite productively to create an atmosphere of uncertainty about the future, dissatisfaction with the authorities and other “ferment” in society. This, by the way, is the answer to a fairly common question about the presidents of Ukraine. Why were they all good at first and then bad? Why were they loved and chosen, and then hated and cursed?
"I'll give you parabellum"
But this is not the end stories. It's not even the middle. Yes, third. People were driven into poverty, and most importantly, into hopelessness, without a future for them and their children. A social explosion was brewing. All that remains is to say “fas”.
We often exaggerate the role of the United States as a state in the coup in Ukraine. It’s more like this: the Americans realized the benefits of the coup in time and used it for their own benefit. It seems to me that transnational monopolies have done much more work. They were the ones who were interested in the redistribution of Ukraine's wealth.
And Yanukovych simply happened to be president at the wrong time. Everyone has already forgotten about who was the author of the idea of Ukraine joining the EU. It was Yanukovych who promoted this idea. But it was his idea that became the ideology of his overthrow. The people were promised a “decent life.” A way out of the hopelessness in which he was. They promised mountains of gold and universal love. It was then that the famous “the whole world is with us” appeared.
And suddenly... Refusal to sign an agreement with the EU. Refusal from the “golden mountains”, from European salaries, the European standard of living, from “Europeanness” in general. People are being deprived of their dreams! And who is to blame? Yanukovych! Atta him! And away we went... life went over bumps. Now let's throw off the bastard, and everything will work out.
Most of those who stood on the Maidan did not even think about tomorrow. Let's throw it off, sign the contract and live. A month, maybe two or three, and that’s it. Therefore, disagreement with this prospect for Donbass and Crimea came as a shock to the majority. They don't want happiness? Well, Ukrainians cannot help but want to live well. This means it was the Russians who processed them! The Russians don’t want the Ukrainians to live better than they do!
This is the initial conclusion for all further conversations about the Russian trace. If before the Maidan “Russians” were the reason for the failures of the Ukrainian government, whatever one may say, and Russian roots, Russian connections can be found in almost any Ukrainian, now the Russians have become enemies who want to kill the Ukrainian future, Ukrainian happiness.
Then everything is simple. Who's unhappy? Crimea and Donbass? This means they are separatists. This means they are Russian. So they are enemies! And new and. O. the president is announced by the ATO. But, realizing that there really are Russians in Crimea, Zaporozhye and Donbass begin to strangle. In Zaporozhye they succeeded, but the mining Donbass did not fall. Showed his teeth.
That very parabellum that the government put into the hands of its supporters did not work. The ATO dragged on, and now it has turned into a real civil war. the war.
Either the chest is covered in crosses, or (more likely) the head is in the bushes
I understand that the excursion into Ukrainian history has taken a long time. Therefore, it’s time to answer the very question with which I began the material. So why are the most stubborn “maydowns” located in the east of Ukraine?
I’ll say right away that I’ll throw aside talk about “the most patriotic patriotism.” Everything is simpler and more complex.
Remember the lines of volunteers at military registration and enlistment offices in 2022? What was the main incentive for volunteers? Patriotism comes second; first, it’s an opportunity to quickly improve your financial situation. Whatever one may say, the happiness that was promised on the Maidan did not happen. Life has become even harder. And here they offer a very good salary, excellent conditions of service and other benefits.
Dnipro and other cities of eastern Ukraine have gone for broke. The alternative is simple. Either you participate in the ATO and get out again "on the causeway", or you drown completely. The new government has done nothing in eight years to give people decent, well-paid work, to improve their living conditions. Army This opportunity, according to the promises of the military, was given. It became a universal solution to any life problems.
Moreover, “all worlds”, “NATO will help us”, they will give us “the great Bayraktar”, etc. The Russians will surrender in a couple of months, and we must manage to become one of the main participants in the victory. Did anyone then (and even now) name the final goals of the war? Return to the borders of 1991? What next? Tales about reparations from Russia?
At the very beginning of the Northern Military District, the promises of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were largely fulfilled. Good wages, help for the wounded, beautiful funerals for the dead, and so on. But then 2023 came. With meat assaults, with a series of defeats, with many “missing people” left on the battlefield. The Russian Army again began to kill the “Ukrainian dream” of happiness.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers began to realize that they had again “bet on the wrong horse.” They turned into a cat “backed into a corner.” On the one hand, it is impossible to leave the Armed Forces of Ukraine until the end of the war. Only disabled or in a coffin. On the other hand, captivity is also not an option. The Azov prisoners showed the whole world how the Russian special services work. We must answer for war crimes.
Deserte and try to hide abroad? There are enough such cases, but most have a bad ending. They are caught and after investigations they are again sent to the front, in even more terrible conditions. No options for survival. And prison, according to the stories of the “volunteers from behind barbed wire,” is not at all sugar...
It turned out that dreams also have to be paid for in blood. I think many soldiers from the eastern regions of Ukraine today are bitterly aware of how much wiser their Western fellow citizens turned out to be. Yes, they play, but the bets are minimal. And even with a safety net, a passport from a neighboring country under the mattress.
Even after losing this war, western Ukraine will not change much. There will be no need to restore cities and villages. There will be no need to change your lifestyle. And for Russia, these territories are not important by and large. It is unlikely that the Russian Army will come there. And if, suddenly, taking advantage of the weakness of defeated Ukraine, the neighbors return their ancestral lands, the residents of these areas are already full-fledged citizens of these countries.
Instead of conclusions
I thought for a long time about whether or not to write this article. Everything is very complicated and ambiguous. Most people prefer simplicity. This one is white, and this one is black. This is good and this is evil. It's easier. My side of the conflict is always right.
It's easy to blame people for choosing the wrong side. But trying to take their place and find a way out of the situation they were in at the time of making their decision is difficult. I always believed that the enemy is never weak. We are stronger. The enemy is never stupid, we are smarter...
Understanding the reasons why he made a particular decision is one of the ways to achieve victory. You know the background of events, you know the future...
Information