Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T03:44:14.365Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Donbas War and politics in cities on the front: Mariupol and Kramatorsk

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2019

Kimitaka Matsuzato*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This paper compares politics in two cities, Mariupol and Kramatorsk, located near the frontline between Ukraine-controlled Donetsk Oblast and the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). The DPR controlled these cities in the spring of 2014, but Ukraine recaptured them. Both cities are company towns, in which owners/managers of dominant factories, nicknamed job-givers, have a decisive voice in the city's decision-making. This paper compares how leaders of the two cities reacted to the expansion of Rinat Akhmetov's business empire before the Donbas War, and to DPR paramilitaries during the war. The two cities diverged decisively in the post-war reconstruction because Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko succeeded in splitting two major companies and making one of them pro-presidential in Kramatorsk. As a result, electoral politics in Kramatorsk became highly competitive, while one-party dominance of the Opposition Bloc (former Party of Regions) continues in Mariupol.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

References

References

Interviews:

Anosov, Valerii. 2017. Lecturer of the Donetsk State Machine-building Academy, a PPB leader. 3 August 2017, Kramatorsk.Google Scholar
Borodin, Maksym. 2017. Deputy of the Mariupol City Council. 21 August 2017, Mariupol.Google Scholar
Bulyk, Maksym. 2016. Assistant Professor of Mariupol State University. 7 September 2016, Mariupol.Google Scholar
Cherepchenko, Oleksandr. 2016. Assistant professor of Mariupol State University. 7 September 2016, Mariupol.Google Scholar
Filichenko, Svitlana. 2017. Vice-mayor of Kramatorsk City. 3 August 2017, Kramatorsk.Google Scholar
Fedai, Andrii. 2016. Deputy of the Mariupol City Council. 9 September 2016, Mariupol.Google Scholar
Honcharov, Serhii. 2017. Head of the Department of Civil Defense and Mobilization of the Donetsk Oblast Administration (Ukraine), but he Agreed to be Interviewed as a Public Activist. 4 August 2017, Kramatorsk.Google Scholar
Khotlubei, Iurii. 2016. Mariupol City Council Deputy, Former Mayor of Mariupol. 8 September 2016, Mariupol.Google Scholar
Kislitsina, Liliia. 2017. Deputy of the Kramatorsk City Council (Petro Poroshenko Bloc). 3 August 2017, Kramatorsk.Google Scholar
Kotsarenko, Volodymyr. 2017. Local Historian. 8 August 2017, Kramatorsk.Google Scholar
Koval'ov, Viktor. 2017. Rector of Donetsk State Machine-building Academy. 3 August 2017, Kramatorsk.Google Scholar
Nagornaia, Irina. 2017. Head of the Apparatus of the Donetsk Oblast organization of the Opposition Bloc. 21 August 2017, Mariupol.Google Scholar
Nikolaenko, Andrii. 2016. Head Director of Velta LLC P&C, Donetsk vice-governor in 2014. 14 September 2016, Kyiv.Google Scholar
Ol'khovaia, Irina. 2017. Deputy of the Kramatorsk City Council (United Kramatorsk). 7 August 2017, Kramatorsk.Google Scholar
Oshurko, Denys. 2017. Secretary of the Kramatorsk City Council. 4 August 2017, Kramatorsk.Google Scholar
Pankov, Andrii. 2017. Kramatorsk Mayor. 8 August 2017, Kramatorsk.Google Scholar
Rud', Svitlana. 2017. Leader of the Fund for Community Development. 5 August 2017, Kramatorsk.Google Scholar
Rzhavskyi, Volodymyr. 2017. Deputy of the Kramatorsk City Council (Petro Poroshenko Bloc). 8 August 2017, Kramatorsk.Google Scholar
Stashkevych, Ihor. 2017. Deputy of the Kramatorsk City Council (Party of Pensioners). 3 August 2017, Kramatorsk.Google Scholar
Svyrydenko, Oleksandr. 2017. Entrepreneur, Civic Activist. 4 August 2017, Kramatorsk.Google Scholar
Taruta, Serhii. 2016. Supreme Rada deputy, Donetsk governor in 2014. 28 August 2016, Kyiv.Google Scholar
Vyshniakov, Kyrylo. 2016. Activist of People's Power. 8 September 2016, Mariupol.Google Scholar
Voroshkov, Oleksandr. 2017. Liaison officer of the Ukrainian Ministry of Social Policy in Donetsk Oblast. 2 August 2017, Kramatorsk.Google Scholar

Literature:

“Gorod ischezaiushchikh liudei.” Novosti Ukrainy from-ua.com. Accessed October 27, 2017. https://from-ua.com/crime/407e9d1f01fd1.html.Google Scholar
Hale, Henry E. 2014. Patronal Politics: Eurasian Regime Dynamics in Comparative Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
“Ia gotov dovesti situatsiiu do absurda, tol'ko chtoby Kiev uslyshal i otmenil vybory v regione.” Zerkalo nedeli, August 20, 2015. Accessed July 6, 2018. http://zn.ua/POLITICS/pavel-zhebrivskiy-ya-gotov-dovesti-situaciyu-do-absurda-tolko-chtoby-kiev-uslyshal-i-otmenil-vybory-v-regione-186182_.html.Google Scholar
“I. o. mera Kramatorska podal v otstavku 'pod obstrelom' — SMI.” TSN, July 1, 2014. Accessed November 6, 2014. https://ru.tsn.ua/politika/i-o-mera-kramatorska-podal-v-otstavku-pod-obstrelom-smi-374584.html.Google Scholar
“Kak poiavilsia Donbass.” Akademiia, February 16, 2018, pp. 34. Accessed March 8, 2018. http://www.dgma.donetsk.ua/npp-pdf/nomer331.pdf.Google Scholar
“Kramatorskii TIK predostavil dannye po 100% protokolov.” 6264com.ua, October 28, 2015. Accessed November 25, 2017. https://www.6264.com.ua/news/1010326.Google Scholar
“Mariupol' potreboval moratoriia, militsii i razorzheniia.” donbass.ua, March 2, 2014. Accessed July 6, 2018. http://donbass.ua/news/region/2014/03/02/mariupol-bolshe-ne-podchinjaetsja-donecku-zhiteli-napravili-pismo-putinu-a-deputaty-notu-verhovnoi-rade-foto.html.Google Scholar
Matsuzato, Kimitaka. 2016. “Domestic Politics in Crimea. 2009–2015.” Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization 24 (2): 225256.Google Scholar
Matsuzato, Kimitaka. 2017. The Donbass War: Outbreak and Deadlock. Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization 25 (2): 175200.Google Scholar
“Parlamentskie vybory v Mariupole: snimaia rozovye ochki ….” Novosti Mariupolia - 0629.com.ua, Accessed July 6, 2018. http://www.0629.com.ua/news/655232.Google Scholar
“Rada reshit sud'bu vyborov v Mariupole i Krasnoarmeiske 3 noiabria.” TCH, October 26, 2014. Accessed November 24, 2017 https://ru.tsn.ua/politika/rada-reshit-sudbu-vyborov-v-mariupole-i-krasnoarmeyske-3-noyabrya-51280.html.Google Scholar
“Sergei Taruta: Poroshenko byl samym neeffektivnym ministrom ekonomiki za vsiu instoriiu.” Ukrainskaia pravda, November 26, 2015. Accessed November 16, 2017 (http://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/articles/2015/11/26/7090271/.Google Scholar
Solov'ev, A. I. 1993. Azovskoe more i Priazov'e: istorila, geografia, ekonomika, ekologiia, kul'tura. Taganrog: Taganrogskii radiotekhnicheskii institut.Google Scholar
Surnin, A. 2015. “Kramatorskie tetradi.” In Materialy dlia noveishei istorii Novorossii, Vol. 2. St. Petersburg: Quadrivium.Google Scholar
“Valerii Karpenko schitaet, chto militsiia prichastna k pokhishcheniiam.” Kramatorsk.info, April 21, 2004. Accessed October 30, 2017. https://www.kramatorsk.info/view/13.Google Scholar
“Za kogo golosuiut kramatorchane.” Novosti Kramatorska, January 27, 2010. Accessed October 27, 2017. http://hi.dn.ua/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1114:2010-01-27-10-26-52&catid=55:kramatorsk&Itemid=147&month=2&year=2010.Google Scholar
Zhukov, Yuri M. 2016. Trading Hard Hats for Combat Helmets: The Economics of Rebellion in Eastern Ukraine. Journal of Comparative Economics 44 (1): 115.Google Scholar