ROUND TABLE “SEPARATIST MOVEMENTS OF CATALONIA AND DONBAS: THREAT ASSESSMENTS IN THE CONTEXT OF MODERN STATE BUILDING”

August 16, 2024 at the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, a round table was held “Separatist movements of Catalonia and Donbass: threat assessments in the context of modern state building”.

The co-organizers of the event were the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Center for Historical Research “RIPOLLET” (Spain), Central State Archive of Higher Authorities and Administration of Ukraine, GS “Institute of Strategic Research and Security”.

Scientists from the Institute of Ukrainian History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Academy of Internal Affairs, the State University of Trade and Economics, Cherkasy National University, other scientific institutions and educational institutions took part in the work of the round table.

Welcome speech by Oleksandr Mayboroda

The President of the RIPOLLET Historical Research Center (Spain), Eduard Ballesteros, PhD (“The Movement for the Independence of Catalonia: Trajectories and Debates on Spanish Democracy”), Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Director of the Central State Archives of Supreme Bodies of Power and Administration of Ukraine Larisa Levchenko (“Attempts to create autonomies in the East of Ukraine: historical experience of 1917 and 2014”), Doctor of Political Science, Professor, chief researcher of the Department of Political Institutions and Processes of the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the NAS of Ukraine Vasyl Kozma (“Degradation of Donetsk territorial patriotism and the development of separatist movements: causes and nature”), Director of the Institute of Strategic Studies and Security, Phd Pavlo Lysyansky (“External factors in the organization of separatist movements in Donetsk and Luhansk Region in the 1990s–2000s”), Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Head of the Political Culture and Ideology Department of the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Yuriy Nikolaiets (“The role of the media in the organization of separatist movements in Donbas in the 1990s-2000s”) made speeches during the round table. The Candidate of Political Sciences, leading researcher of the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the NAS of Ukraine Rostyslav Balaban was a moderator of the meeting.

During the work of the round table

The participants of the round table noted the fundamental difference between the situation in Catalonia and the territory of the Ukrainian Donbass. Emphasis was placed on the fact that the separatist movements of Donbas were organized with the active assistance of the Russian Federation.

During the discussion, it was noted that the majority of the ethnically Russian population of the Ukrainian Donbas did not see its future as part of the Russian Federation in 2014. The majority of residents of Donetsk and Luhansk regions advocated the preservation of these regions as part of Ukraine and expressed outrage that the Ukrainian authorities and law enforcement agencies made too little effort to eliminate separatist centers.

During the discussion

The nature of the actions of law enforcement agencies during the illegal referendum in Catalonia sparked the discussion. Scientists also expressed slightly different views on the prospects of punishing all participants of the separatist movement in Donbas.

Condemnation caused the spread of theses about “bandit Donbas” by certain political forces of the “orange camp” in the early 2000s. Labeling the citizens of the entire region as criminals was certainly outside the legal field, but this did not stop those interested in spreading relevant information.

Scientists agreed that the long-term reintegration of the region will be complicated, since many of its residents took direct part in the hostilities against Ukraine as part of illegal armed formations and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. It was also possible to reach an agreement on the issue of the impracticality of the post-war reconstruction of the destroyed monofunctional settlements of Donbas.

Participants of the round table