Explaining complex things in simple words: Protests by Polish farmers, pseudo-republics, importance of mother tongue

The Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security pursues efforts to provide a brief explanation to foreign audiences on the current topics of particular interest as regards Ukraine. 

PROTESTS BY POLISH FARMERS

In Poland, the railway was blocked near the Medyka–Shehyni checkpoint. A protester pinned the flag of the USSR on his tractor and a poster with the inscription “Putin, restore order in Ukraine, Brussels, and our government.”

  • Polish farmers' protests are getting more radical, which is worrying, especially given the current security situation in the region.
  • In the USSR, there were no farmers, but only collective farmers deprived of property and fair income for their work.
  • Calls to Putin are not trolling or jokes. The Kremlin is making real efforts to “restore order” in Ukraine, Poland, and the EU.
  • What individual Polish farmers do with Ukrainian grain is a deliberate provocation aimed at destroying the spirit of good, neighbourly relations between Ukrainians and Poles.
  • Polish police detained the farmer with a provocative poster and a Soviet flag. We welcome the prompt response of Polish law enforcement officers. We hope for the same efficiency in the mutually beneficial settlement of the issue at the interstate level.

PSEUDO-REPUBLICS

On February 21, 2022, Putin recognized the “independence” of the so-called “DPR” and “LPR.”

  • The “DPR” and “LPR” are terrorist organizations formed by the Kremlin to cover up Russia's hybrid aggression against Ukraine in 2014.
  • The “DPR” and “LPR” are neither “people's,” nor “republics,” nor state entities at all. Russia has had full control over the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
  • The recognition of “independence” had been a farce, since a few months later the
  • Kremlin easily abolished the “independence” of the pseudo-republics and annexed the territories controlled by them.
  • The imposition of puppet regimes of the so-called “DPR” and “LPR” brought grief to the residents of the occupied territories. It entails a social and communal ruin, banditry, concentration camp Isolation, “safari mobilization” of men since February 2022.
  • All territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts will be liberated and returned to the legal field of Ukraine. They will be reintegrated and restored after years of Russian occupation.

IMPORTANCE OF THE MOTHER TONGUE

February 21 marks the International Mother Language Day.

  • Language has become a symbol of resistance to the Russian invasion. While the enemy is seeking the total Russification of Ukrainians, the number of those who switch to Ukrainian at work and at home is steadily increasing in Ukraine.
  • Ukraine guarantees its citizens free opportunities for the widespread use of their native languages.
  • Ukraine is also engaged in the preservation of the languages of indigenous peoples, in particular, the Crimean Tatars.
  • Therefore, speculations about the language rights of individual ethnic communities in Ukraine, such as those voiced by the official Budapest, are unfair and inappropriate.

Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security