KYIV. UkraineGate . 23 . November . 2022 | War News .
Reintegration of residents of the temporarily occupied Donbas is a complex process that should begin with a detailed sociological study. And the duration of the unification will depend on the format of the end of the war and what information and cultural policy post-war Ukraine will adhere to.
Citation
“This problem is very complex. And the first difficulty is that we do not know who is currently present in this occupied territory. I mean, into which conditional groups the population of the occupied Donbas is divided. We now have a very simplistic perception of what is happening there. We believe that all the people there are brainwashed who do not understand what is happening, and they are all against Ukraine. I have information that in fact there are various groups there, among which there are carriers of the ideology of the “Russian world”, and carriers of Ukrainian identity. However, it is difficult to say what their ratio is. The statistical curve of normal distribution proves that there is always an inert mass that will obey key information currents. But it is not known how big it is and where the shift goes. We can only assume that the shift is going to the Russian side. Also, we do not know how this audience is distributed by age, sex, professional and social groups. Therefore, before starting information intoxication, we must conduct a detailed sociological study,” Kim said.
The second difficulty in reintegrating Donbass is that it is a demographically distorted region, from where the majority of the adult population left back in 2014. The inert group that was not able to leave is mainly elderly people, with whom it is more difficult to work informationally. One of the reasons is the people of the Soviet mentality. If they support the idea of the “Russian measure”, this is due to their positive attitude towards the Soviet Union. And what their number is also currently unknown, the expert points out.
“And there are children who have been constantly living in Russian horror for 8 years. Despite the fact that these are not elderly people and their psyche is more flexible, but they were brought up in a very clear ideology “we must be united with Russia.” Such ideological education is difficult to correct. I think that after the return of these territories, Ukraine will need to clearly formulate its ideological paradigm, concentrate on specific age groups and through whom it is necessary to work. I am sure that it will be easier to work with young people, but to involve Ukrainians who left these territories at one time and work through them, to involve them in the creation of public associations and organizations,” Kim said.
Another difficulty facing Ukraine is the reintegration of Donbas residents who left for Russia and have been there all this time.
“The fact is that in Russia they also did not become their own. I know about the existence of a large number of cases when these people, living in Ukraine, considered themselves Russians, and when they went to Russia, they were faced with the fact that they are all called Khokhl Ukrainians there. Their identification has also undergone certain changes. We don’t know which ones yet,” the psychologist said.
In addition, he believes, for the successful reintegration of residents of the occupied Donbas, political lustration and a clear strategy for the formation of local authorities are necessary.
“If we leave this region without strict and clear rules, we can see the return of the “Party of Regions 2.0″ and the officials who met the invaders. Also, it seems to me that it is necessary to carry out changes at the cultural level. There are a huge number of residents who have never left their region at all and do not have their own idea of the cultural foundation of Ukraine. Here, again, it is necessary to work through young people and those who left after 2014 and have been in other territories of Ukraine all this time. Because young people are carriers of flexibility and the ability to perceive new things, and those who have left have a greater understanding of the culture of the Ukrainian nation,” Kim said.
The expert noted that after the start of a full-scale invasion, large-scale changes took place in Ukrainian society. In particular, the landscape of identity has changed. It is to this change that the residents of Donbass should be involved.
“Earlier in Ukraine, regional identity was in the first place, when people felt like “I am from the south”, “I am from the east”. This was clearly visible after 2014, when the majority of Luhansk residents and Donetsk residents who left there were treated negatively. Because Ukrainians perceived it as a foreign region. After the beginning of the invasion in Ukraine, another process of identity formation began. National and civil identity comes first, that is, “I feel like a citizen of Ukraine”, and not a resident of a certain region. Local identity came in second place. This change in the identity landscape provides interesting opportunities for the formation of a community and a Ukrainian nation. Residents of Donbas will also need to be involved in the formation of a new Ukrainian identity, in the creation of a new Ukrainian nation. But this is a difficult job, which should begin with the study of social clusters of the population of the occupied territories,” the expert said.
The duration of the process of reintegration of Donbas residents, according to the psychologist, will depend on two things: how exactly the war ends and what kind of state policy Ukraine will pursue.
“The first is how the war will end, because now Russia is a counterweight to Ukraine. If we end the war with the preservation of Russia in its borders and politics, the population of the occupied territories, even after liberation, will feel attraction to the Russian idea. Because if a strong economy of the Russian Federation is maintained, a strong propaganda machine will remain, which will continue to influence our citizens. But if Russia suffers a crushing defeat with the destruction of the economy, military and propaganda machine, then we are killing, so to speak, a hotbed of information infection. People who do not trust Ukraine will have nothing to rely on, there will be no carrier of counterweight.
The second factor is how rational the information and cultural policy of Ukraine will be. Now there are opinions among Ukrainians that the population of Donbas should atone for the guilt before the whole country for betraying Ukrainian statehood and Ukrainian interests. This is an irrational and unethical approach, because we put all people under one dimension: all residents of Donbas are traitors. The truth is that there are different groups out there. I know a lot of people who keep firm sense even after 8 years. If we treat everyone as traitors at the state level, we will not be able to form a loyal population there, carriers of Ukrainian identity. Even those who will return there from Ukraine will be perceived by locals as strangers,” the psychologist said.
Supplement
The government previously assumed that the reintegration of the temporarily occupied areas of Donbas would last at least one generation.
Source: Ukrgate
