With the outbreak of violence in the Pro-Russian republics of the Donbass region, Moscow and its relays are suspected of instrumentalizing refugees and staging tensions to have a pretext for military intervention.
by and
Between provocations, manipulations and violence, the events have rushed, since Friday, February 18 at Donbass, making a Moscow offensive. Saturday morning, a Ukrainian soldier was killed by a shine of shells and the leaders of the two preressical separatist republics of this Eastern Region of Ukraine decreed “general mobilization”.
Show, Friday, the separatist authorities had announced explosions and staged the evacuation of the population to Russia. These violence, presented as Ukrainian provocations, could serve as pretexts to Russian military intervention. The images, filmed by the separatists then widely distributed by the television to the orders of the Kremlin, could allow Vladimir Putin to justify the operation with his own public opinion. The Prorussian authorities first declared that a trapped car had exploded near an official building in Donetsk, a city under their control. Then, in the nearby city of Lougansk, a portion of pipeline caught fire after a “powerful explosion”, according to the Russian press agencies citing correspondents on the spot and a second detonation had sounded. None of these incidents had made a victim.
In this area of conflict larvé since the annexation of Crimea and the beginning of the conflict at Donbass in 2014, the ceasefire has suddenly stolen splinters for three days with a significant increase in shots (411 violations in The Donetsk region and 1,050 in that of Lougansk, according to the Observers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe). These new violence accelerated calls for the evacuation of populations.
On the social networks of the separatists, then in the Russian public media, the images have multiplied: children grouped in the courses of schools and orphanages for a precipitate departure, families leaving their homes, long lines of cars in direction of Russia. The local representative of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Donetsk announced the planned evacuation of 500,000 to 700,000 – a statement to take with extreme precaution. This climate of orchestrated fear has been accentuated by the sound of shooting off. The panic has won some of the inhabitants, who rushed into supermarkets, banks and service stations to anticipate any shortage.
Suspicions on an operation organized in advance
In the day, the evacuations seemed to be well prepared, with lists of gathering points broadcast by the local authorities so that the inhabitants find themselves before schools, hospitals, shops … on the doors of the buildings, opinions have been Scotted to call men aged 18 to 55 not to leave. “It is better that they stay in the Republic,” said Denis Pushiline, the separatist leader of the Donetsk area who, a few hours earlier, had very officially announced the evacuation of civilians to Russia, “in the first place. women, children and the elderly “. His counterpart of the Republic of Lugansk, Leonid Passéchnik, did the same before calling “all men capable of holding a weapon to defend their homeland”. Both accuse Kiev to prepare an operation after the multiplication of clashes to invade their two republics.
You have 64.09% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.