First of all let's recap the current situation, vis-a-vis relations between the Southern and Eastern parts of the Ukraine, and the center - Kiev, and its new government. We can see that the Kiev Junta is strongly cracking down on Eastern Ukrainian political activism & organisation, internet media, political independence and identity.
- Laws have been instituted banning Russian TV media channels, and proposed laws have arisen among which are various calls for withdrawing the Russian language's official status in Eastern Ukrainian regions (the law instating this status was first withdrawn by the new government but then seemingly hastily reinstated), Lustration of old officials, phasing out the Cyrillic alphabet in favour of Latin, outlawing all traces of the Soviet past and national holidays, rewriting history and all sorts of other loony ideas.
- Maidan-friendly oligarchs have been appointed to run Eastern Ukrainian regions such Kharkov, Zaporozha, Donetsk, Nikolayev and Dneprpetrovsk, displacing all the old leaderships in these regions, not to mention new chiefs of police, SBU and so on. Many of these oligarchs have been implicated in mafia activities, serious crimes and in effect the whole 'battle against corruption' that the Maidan protestors claim to have been fighting for; has now been decided in such a way - that Eastern Ukraine is stuck with more corrupt rulers and officials than ever before.
- Lenin statues as well as statues of Kirov and other famous figures have been smashed and taken down by Maidan activists arriving to Eastern regions under the sponsorship of the new government and protected by the police under the orders of the very same new government. In fact Lenin statues have been outlawed by the new government or at least that was one of the proposals. In some Eastern Ukrainian cities, public squares were even provocatively renamed to heroes of Maidan squares, despite the opposition of the local population. When this was resisted by the Oplot organisation in Kharkov, its leader became wanted by the police for questioning.
- Party of Regions officials (i.e. Eastern-Ukrainian and Russian-speakers political representitives) have been purged of all government positions, while Party of Regions and Communist Party deputies have been coerced under threat into passing whatever laws and resolutions the other political party's deputies want in the duma; some have been beaten and even tortured.
- Mass anti-Russian hysteria has swept the country, all TV media and all major internet media has come under the control of the new government, with those opposed being threatened or closed-down. Internet forums have also been taken over by pro-Maidan, pro-Bandera moderators over the past few years; including even those of most Eastern Ukrainian cities such as Dneprpetrovsk and Kharkov, with pro-Russian posters being simply banned over the past two weeks. Eastern Ukrainians have had to rapidly organise the hosting of new forums.
- Pravyj Sektor militants are being given more and more of a central role, as police forces in Kiev and Western Ukraine, as security for Maidan protestors in Eastern regions, etc... and now also as official military formations of some description and designation.
- Berkut police units - hailed as heroes by the Eastern half of the country - have been disbanded, and in the case of those hailing from Western regions; humiliated, threatened, beaten, etc... basically they now feel very unwelcome in their own homes. Criminal cases opened in regards to the shooting of police forces and Berkut members during the last few days of the old government have been closed. Berkut have been accused of most of the killings that have taken place, are the target of scorn and hatred, etc...
- Eastern Ukrainian political activists have been threatened, beaten, arrested, smeared in the media and labelled as Russian provocatuers, etc... while the meetings themselves have been either completely ignored or derided in the Ukrainian press as consisting of 'Titushki' (paid provocateurs) or arrivals from Russia. Police reinforcements have been flooding various Eastern regions in order to prevent protestors ousting any of their new leaders appointed by Kiev. No demands have been met, no referendums are planned. The 21st of February political summit of Eastern Ukrainian regional leaders was labeled by the Ukrainian SBU as an attempt at separatism, and many of its attendants were forced to hide or flee to Russia right after its conclusion.
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