The martyrology of mercenaries in the Donbas is growing so fast that it can’t keep track. The poor, Ishchenko, Arose, Brainstorming, Napping, Zhilin, Pavlov, Bolotov — the list can be long, but why? By and large, all the main public face of the Russian invasion has left this world. Against this background, Igor Strelkov and Alexander Boroday seem random lucky — they managed to survive not only the war but also their own retirement. The truth is nobody can say for sure whether their fate point.
The murder of Mikhail “Givi” Tolstykh was not just another link in the chain. It has also become a feature under the myth of “militia of Donbass”. The same myth that had been forged by the Russian propaganda machine during the last three years. And that, frankly, makes you worry.
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The whole war in the Donbas from its first day was the story of the instrumentality. And all her “heroes” was just as man-made. We know almost nothing about the past commanders. It seems to be “Motorola” washing machines seem to “Givi” worked as a loader, according to rumors, Zakharchenko traded bird. April 2014 has become a point of zeroing out the old and creating a new. In that moment, when Moscow decided to create a Pantheon of “heroic fighters for the new Russia”, all of these people to do biographies.
And did them quite intricate. The same “Motorola” and “Givi” according to the authors, was to serve as a direct role model for the “folk of the lower classes”. Embodied model of success: yesterday you were nobody, today became everything. The dream of a revolutionary “In the struggle you will attain your right”. For a Colonel’s epaulettes, apartments, cars and fame you little — get off the couch and following the appeals of television to reach Donetsk. The Kalashnikov as a social Elevator.
And “Givi” and “Motorola” was a model for different target groups. A resident of the Komi Republic Arsen Pavlov — as a role model for Russian volunteers from the provinces.
A native of Ilovaysk Mikhail Tolstoy — as a reference point for Ukrainian citizens from the occupied territories. The willingness to fight with Ukraine — like a magic pike that turns Ivan the Fool, Ivan Tsarevich. Trench the brotherhood of Nations, the international brigade and other half-forgotten Soviet agitprom.
But now it’s all in the past. The death of both drew a line under the new “the Truman show”. And those who write about what death will be to them a pedestal is wrong. History in all times is written by the winners, and whoever wins — in the future there will be no place for “warlords of new Russia.”
The violinist is not necessary
Because of the “new Russia” will not. It is not needed in the first place, Moscow. The Kremlin need not a new Transnistria, Ukraine and obedient. And because the battle is only for whose conditions the occupied Donbass will return to Ukraine.
Moscow wants to turn the Donbass in the antidote of independence. In vaccination against Ukrainian sovereignty. For this you need only one thing — to achieve a separate state for the region, Amnesty for militants, and to legalize them through the election.
To have legalized the militants to pass the border control. Any such option today is in the Ukrainian society allergies — not least thanks to the characters that made his biography on the war with Kiev. And to feed the Donbass Ukraine Moscow need to reset the talk about “the insurmountable contradictions”.
“Motorola” and “Givi” and the like were the main stimuli for the unoccupied part of the country. In three years of fighting, they became a kind of personification of evil, a personal armed embodiment of Ukrainophobia. That same story, when the phenomenon is dissolved in the person, and the enemy of the system-value becomes specifically tangible.
“Peace at any price” was considered unacceptable because “Givi” and Motorola” will sit in the Parliament. And now will not. No one. Emotional-logical connective was just logical. And not so much causes you to clench his fists.
And it is not important who and what was the reason of eliminating the warlords in Donbas. Sooner or later, Moscow would still have to deal with this issue. “To instill” Ukraine Donbass it is necessary to remove unnecessary irritants. “Givi” and “Motorola” was needed to recruit volunteers. But now the situation has changed. The moor has done his job. Their successors will not have to do the biography.
Values and labels
And that is what is most important in this story. Jubilation at the deaths of the warlords is yet another proof of how much personifizierte any war. But the last three years, Ukraine is not fighting with “Givi” and “Motorola”, not with Brain and Dremov. On the other side of the trenches sits the Kremlin. And the biggest mistake would be to confuse the war for the values of war against specific people.
No matter how many warlords will add to a martyrology. The names have no meaning. Zakharchenko, Carpentry, film — all these people play the role of fair of parsley worn on the fingers of the puppeteer. But if they change suddenly come charming people with sincere smiles — does this mean that Ukraine won?
The whole story of the current confrontation is not only a battle for independence and sovereignty. It’s a battle of past and future. Pro-Soviet and non-Soviet. Autocracy and freedom. Attempting to replay lost 1918-th year. The battle for the right to live without regard to the former metropolis. The mental fight between a Ukrainian and a little Russian.
And the biggest mistake would be to forget about it.
