Zaporizhia under threat of pro-Russian violence, regional head warns

Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, which borders the
wor-torn Donetsk region, is under threat of destabilization and attempts at government
takeover, said on July 27 Kostiantyn Bryl, the regional administration head,
during a special session of the regional council. Bryl delivered an official
statement on crimes being planned against national security and the current
constitutionally elected government, requesting that his appeal to the
president, prosecutor general and national security head be registered.

Analytical information reveals preparations for
“large-scale actions aimed at supporting a violent change or overthrow of the
constitutional order, taking government power, changing the territory’s borders
or Ukraine’s state border, as well as the financing of such activities,” Bryl
said as reported by his press service. Pro-Russian organizations are conducting
systemic activity aimed at destabilizing the situation in the region, he said.

Such destabilizing activities have included so far
protests against alleged restrictions on the rights of Russians, as well as
information campaigns alleging improving quality of life conditions in the
self-declared republics, Bryl said. Russian mass media have used these methods
to harm Ukraine’s international image and foment separatist attitudes, he said.

Later in the day, Bryl told a television network that
the activities were being led by regional council members of the Opposition
Bloc and Self-Reliance parties, who continue to interfere in the work of the
acting government in providing social relief, particularly the elderly,
creating social tensions locally.

Zenon Zawada: It would be
irresponsible for Bryl to use the threat of expanded war as a political weapon
against his local enemies, which is what some of his statements sound like.
That’s especially the case in regards to the Self-Reliance party, which has a
strictly pro-Western, anti-Putinist position. At the same time, we see some
truth to his statements that there’s a looming threat of violence being
introduced by pro-Russian forces in the region.

Zaporozhia is a highly industrial town, whose
enterprises are very closely tied to companies in Russia. That’s especially the
case of aeronautics engine maker Motor Sich, who CEO Boguslayev has made no
secret of his strong pro-Russian position. Yet for now, neither he nor any
local business leaders have gone public in support of the separatists. Though
the region has been largely free of violent activity, a significant threat
still looms for as long as the warfare in neighboring Donbas is being waged.