Driving Ukrainians Into Putin’s Arms

By LEV GOLINKINDEC. 8, 2014

A RECENT United Nations report says that nearly half a million Ukrainians have fled the country since April. The fact that families run from a war zone is heartbreaking but hardly unexpected. The disturbing part lies in the details -- of the roughly 454,000 people who had fled Ukraine by the end of October, more than 387,000 went to Russia. Most of those who fled were Russian speakers from the east, but this still raises a sobering question: If this is a conflict between Ukraine and Russia, why did so many Ukrainians choose to cast their lot with the enemy?

Moscow's denials of involvement in eastern Ukraine are, of course, absurd: It is clear that the separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk are equipped, reinforced and trained by Russians. That said, if Vladimir V. Putin had tried sending unmarked commandos to set up sham republics in western Ukraine, where anti-Russian sentiment runs high, his men would have been returned to the Kremlin in body bags. Yes, Mr. Putin is brewing unrest in the east, but he is brewing with local ingredients. He is connecting with the population using a language they speak and a symbolism they understand.

The unpalatable reality is that a significant portion of eastern Ukrainians -- the very people on the ground living and suffering through this conflict -- distrust Kiev and the West and at least tacitly support Russia and the separatists. And frankly, that isn't surprising.

Last month the Ukrainian president, Petro O. Poroshenko, decided to freeze government pensions and cut off funding for schools and hospitals in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk. Unfortunately, the separatist thugs fighting there don't rely on food stamps to buy weapons -- they get them from Russia. All that Mr. Poroshenko accomplished was giving Mr. Putin the "proof" to tell the starving pensioners of the region: "See -- the West doesn't care if you die." This is a sentiment that is growing stronger and stronger, according to reports coming out of the region.

Equally awful is Kiev's decision to maintain a relationship with the Azov battalion, an ultranationalist paramilitary group of around 400 men that uses Nazi salutes and insignia. To anyone familiar with eastern Ukraine's bloody history during World War II, allowing the Azov battalion to fight in the region is a bit like sponsoring a Timothy McVeigh Appreciation Night in Oklahoma City. It does nothing but infuriate the local population and provide Mr. Putin with yet another opportunity to shed the mantle of invader and position himself as a protector.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/09/opinion/driving-ukrainians-into-putins-arms.html