“Many of these people, if I can say so delicately, are incompetent. According to law enforcement, great numbers of these protesters were sent to Ukraine through the Russian border. They are the ones providing the muscle for seizing government,” Taruta said.According to Taruta, these “separatists” are being funded by Russian sources. “These people are placed in the entourage of the radical movement’s leader, the so-called self-proclaimed governor. Yesterday he was seen surrounded by members of the State Duma of Russia.”
Taruta also believes the Russian border must be blocked immediately to prevent the importation of people who commit provocations. “I am convinced there is urgent need to close the border to individuals who come to take part in subversive activities. Many of these people are armed,” he explained, noting that “goods and peaceful people should be able to cross the border without additional interference.”
Taruta warned that all the decisions taken on Monday by deputies of the Donetsk Oblast Council will be challenged, except for the election of Andriy Shyshatsky, the new head of the Oblast Council. “They are trying to prove that the documents, approved under the gun, and the mostly artificial meetings represent the will of the Donetsk Oblast,” he said.
“The self-proclaimed governor represents a typical scenario they are currently trying to implement in numerous oblasts throughout the Ukrainian South-East –for example, in Luhansk and Odesa. The participants break into the meeting halls and under threat to life force the deputies to agree to decisions supporting the Russian intervention and dismemberment of our country,” he concluded.
Taruta believes the developers of the typical riot scenarios in the eastern and southern oblasts are trying to “create caricature copies of Maidan.”
“However, there is at least one fundamental difference between these aggressive rallies and Maidan, which will bring about the failure of the Donbas scenario, ” he said. “Maidan was genuinely supported by the broad masses. It was an example of civic initiative, self-organization, self-sacrifice and self-sufficiency. In the Donbas, these radicals do not have broad support among the population. The motor of the radical movement is working on behalf of foreign citizens, participating for money,” he concluded.