Far-Right Parties and the Revolution

The majority of Russian speaking Ukrainians in the east tend to support parties that demonstrate a respect for Russian ties. The Party of Regions (now the Opposition Bloc), the Communist Party of Ukraine, and the Progressive Socialist Party all have moderately pro-Russian agendas.

Where the Russian war-preparations come in is the heavy financial backing of radical organizations through Russian oligarchs over the past two decades. Military strategy recognizes that conflicting loyalties in the defending nation favor the invader. The most articulate Ukrainian secessionist players are actually numerically very small. The two most headline-grabbing separatist “youth” organizations are Proriv (“the Breakthrough”—founded in 2005) and the Eurasian Youth Movement (founded in 2002). They get only a couple of hundred supporters at protest marches, but in the Russian press they are made to look like a mass-uprising of the proletariat.

If there is a revolution of the people, then Russia is obliged to offer fraternal assistance.