СУСПІЛЬНО-ПОЛІТИЧНА ОБСТАНОВКА В ПРИКОРДОННИХ РАЙОНАХ ДОНБАСУ НА ПОЧАТКУ РОСІЙСЬКОЇ АГРЕСІЇ У 2014 РОЦІ

Abstract

The relevance of the study is due to the need to study the methods of hybrid warfare used by the Russian aggressor against Ukraine. In the spring of 2014, illegal anti-Ukrainian protest actions were organized by Russian special services in the border regions of Donbas, which were supported by local collaborators. Forced seizure of administrative buildings of local authorities continued. Pro-Russian groups of the Ukrainian local population prevented the anti-terrorist operation in every possible way, in particular, they blocked units of the Armed Forces and obstructed the work of law enforcement agencies. In the captured territories, local collaborators managed, with the assistance of Russian curators, to hold an illegal so-called “referendum” on secession from Ukraine, which was a political method of legalizing actions aimed at destroying Ukrainian statehood in certain areas of Donbas. All of the above took place in conditions of complete loss of control over the socio-political situation in the border areas on the part of local authorities, law enforcement agencies, and the complication of the involvement of Ukrainian military formations in the actions. Ukrainian historical experience has confirmed the general world practice of armed conflicts, during which the transformation of social confrontation into an open armed conflict occurs under the influence of certain socio-political conditions. The only difference is that these conditions have their own specific characteristics for each armed conflict. At the same time, relations with the Russian Federation continued to worsen in the sphere of ensuring the appropriate level of border security on the common section of the state border. Despite Ukraine’s efforts to stabilize the situation politically, the Russian Federation did not take appropriate measures and continued to act as a destabilizing factor in the border regions of the Ukrainian Donbas.