International Movement of Donbass
| Интерфронт Донбасса Interfront Donbass | |
.svg) | |
| Formation | 1990 |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | 2003 |
| Location | |
| Leader | Dmitriy Kornilov |
The Interfront of the Donbass (Интерфронт Донбасса, also called the Intermovement of the Donbass, Russian: Интернациональное Движение Донбасса, also abbreviated Интердвижение and ИДД) was a political movement in the late Ukrainian SSR and early independent Ukraine. It was founded in 1990 by the members of the Intelligentsia in the Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine. It was founded in opposition to the People's Movement of Ukraine, which favored Ukrainian independence.[1] Similar Interfront movements existed in the Latvian SSR, Moldovan SSR and other republics.
In 1992, it grew stronger as miners and local elites opposed the economic mismanagement of the central government in Kyiv and an alleged Ukrainization.[2] In 1993, the Interfront participated in a rally in Donetsk against the economic policy of Leonid Kravchuk. The rally was co-sponsored by the Socialist Party of Ukraine.[3]
In a publication from 1993, the Interfront emphasized the multinational character of the Donbas.
(The) Donbass has since the old times served as home to dozens of peoples. The territory of what is now the Donbass has been part of the Khazar Khanate, Golden Horde, the Crimean Khanate, the Russian Empire, the Donets-Krivoy Rog Republic and (finally) the Ukrainian State... the Donbass is the centre a unique multinational culture.
— Programm of the Intermovement of the Donbass (Projekt), in: Nash Donbass, No. 1 (January 1993), p. 4.[4]
In 1993 and 1994, the chairman of the Intermovement was Dmitriy Kornilov.[5][6]
In 1993, members of the Interfront participated in the foundation of the Civil Congress of Ukraine. Kornilov became the ideological leader of the Civic Congress.[7] The Congress turned into the Slavic Party in 1998.
In 1997, Kornilov said that Donetsk is "beyond doubt" Russian.[8] Two years later, he repeated that the Donetsk region "orients itself towards Moscow".[9]
Dmitriy Kornilov died in 2002. His brother, Vladimir Kornilov continued his work and later became a citizen of the Donetsk People's Republic. Some observers see the Donetsk People's Republic as the successor movement to the Interfront of the Donbas.[10]
In 2016, Pavel Gubarev wrote that the flag of the Donetsk People's Republic is that of the former Interfront of the Donbass,[11] which is not true – the Interfront flag had the colours the other way around.
See also
Literature
References
- ^ James Ivan Clem: The Life of the Parties: Party Activism in Lʹviv and Donetsk, Ukraine, Ann Arbor (MA): University of Michigan Press 1995, p. 52.
- ^ Lewis H. Siegelbaum/Daniel J. Walkowitz: Workers of the Donbass Speak: Survival and Identity in the New Ukraine, 1989–1992, Albany (NY): SUNY Press 1995, p. 71.
- ^ Paul J. D'Anieri: Economic interdependence in Ukrainian-Russian relations, Albany (NY): SUNY Press 1999, p. 111 (footnote: p. 250).
- ^ Andrew Wilson: The Donbas between Ukraine and Russia: The Use of History in Political Disputes, in: Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 30 (1995), No. 2, pp. 265–289 (here: pp. 278/279).
- ^ FBIS Report: Central Eurasia, 1993, p. 10.
- ^ Pal Kolsto: Political Construction Sites: Nation Building in Russia and the Post-soviet States, London: Taylor & Francis 2018, p. 382.
- ^ Tor Bukkvoll: Ukraine and European Security, London: Royal Institute of International Affairs Corporation 1997, p. 31.
- ^ Tor Bukkvoll: Ukraine and European Security, London: Royal Institute of International Affairs Corporation 1997, p. 31.
- ^ Justin Burke: Ukraine: State Building and Stability, New York (NY): Open Society Institute 1999, p. 51.
- ^ Tim Judah: In Wartime – Stories from Ukraine, London: Penguin Books 2015, p. 173.
- ^ Pavel Gubarev: Die Fackel von Novorossiya, Düsseldorf: Taiga-Verlag 2019, p. 13.