(Photo of Kharkiv on April 13, 2014, by Evgenii Maslov)
Facebook posting shared by Kharkiv sociologist Oleksiy Musiyezdov, April 13, 2014, posted by an unknown man (based on what the original says in Russian). Translation by William Risch:
From Kharkov: Today I got to talk over a cup of coffee with some guys with St. George ribbons. I had to present myself as an activist “for Russia.” I was simply interested in finding out what was going on in their heads. The guys are young, around age 20. Kharkov residents. They were standing along Kulinichevskaia Street, and there were separatists all around, with red flags and other flags like them. I went up to them, and I started talking with them, one word at a time. I asked them why they only come to help us on the weekends, and they said that when they get orders to come, they come. Then we started talking about pay, because it’s hard to do this stuff for free. They said our people get 150 grivnias a day, and the Russians, mostly people from Kursk, get 450 rubles, and commanders get from 100 to 500 US dollars a day. There are guys who went through training in Russia, and there are “advisors” from Russia.
