Self-image in Flux
The “People’s Republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk and their Fighters
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The self-image of the population in the east of Ukraine is changing. Many people are facing an identity crisis. Two and a half years after the outbreak of violence in the so-called people’s republics of the Donetsk and Luhansk, they see that their homeland will not become a part of Russia. They do not wish to return to the Ukrainian state. The frozen conflict is reinforcing a regional sense of self-image that has isolationist traits. The leadership of the quasi-state entities and the members of the volunteer combat forces speak increasingly of a “Donbass nation” or the “Luhansk people”.
(Osteuropa 6-7/2016, pp. 185–203)