Kyiv, May 15th, 2014 – Dmitry Timchuk, the head of the Center for Military-Political Studies, a coordinator of the group «Information resistance» spoke at Ukrainian crisis media center of how to hold elections in Eastern Ukraine, about successes and «mishaps» of the Ukrainian army military actions as well as about ATO information support.
According to Dmitry Timchuk, during the last day in the eastern provinces there have been observed active measures of security forces to block the militants. Tactics of these operations is as follows: locate the terrorist groups in their locations to prevent movement in other areas and gradually eliminate them completely. «Security forces operations acquire the warfare character – says Mr. Timchuk. – They involve multiple power groups: internal military forces, National Guard battalion, Special Forces, Alpha division and others».
The ATO main problem the expert still names large-scale participation of local people in the terrorist’s military actions. The expert explains these are the consequences of active pro Russian propaganda in eastern Ukraine, low living standards in the region and high criminality. «Many people do it not just for money, but also for ideological reasons – says Mr. Timchuk. – People have access to weapons, which is being brought from Russia on a massive scale, their participation is stimulated financially. Unfortunately, for many people it is perfectly acceptable to take part in such actions for money. However, the Ukrainian government makes concessions and promises amnesty to those who have not committed a crime yet». Dmitry believes that if during the ATO Ukrainian military will destroy everyone, not just mercenary fighters, but also local residents involved in the conflict, it will come into the Civil War format. According to him, that´s what exactly Russia would have done, it has already demonstrated these methods in the Caucasus. Ukraine is also mindful of the West, which is monitoring the actions of Kiev closely.
Dmitry Timchuk supports the idea of the need for dialogue with the East, but warns against misinterpretation of its members: «It is necessary to clearly distinguish between civilians and terrorists. With the last there should be no dialogue. «The only problem in the dialogue implementation he sees is the absence of real leaders in the Eastern regions. Mr. Timchuk also proposed to hold local elections, as a result of which Donbass residents will have to determine with whom it will be possible to conduct a dialogue in the future. The expert offers to learn electoral experience from countries such as Afghanistan or Iraq where military actions are being held at the moment. He specified that the expert group is already in the study of their experience, technical capabilities are being worked through for May 25th elections. «I cannot say that the elections can be carried out throughout the Donbass – said Timchuk. – But I want to remind you that terrorists captured administration buildings only in nine cities of the region. Therefore, we are not talking about full «loss» of two eastern regions of Ukraine from the electoral process».
The expert also made a proposal to introduce accreditation of media representatives – Ukrainian and foreign, including Russian, to ensure proper information support of the ATO progress in the East of Ukraine. All journalists have to apply to the headquarters of the ATO and receive appropriate support to guarantee their safety.
Another ATO problem expert names «moral degradation» of the army and law enforcement agencies of Ukraine. Dmitry also noted a low level of interaction between the security forces: «It just never was worked out; there were no trainings and practice exercises. It turns out that the experience of interaction is being paid by blood. But fortunately this situation is gradually improving. Recent developments are encouraging».
Among the positive signals of the ATO progress, Dmitry Timchuk also noted the rotation produced at the headquarters of the ATO. In particular, he said, professional people with experience in managing combat operations in Iraq came to the team.
Commenting the issue of the self-proclaimed leaders of the DNR ultimatum towards the Ukrainian army, Dmitry replied: «Our team does not see a particular strength of the guerrillas, which they claim from the TV screen. They also have no consistent action. There is no underground army to fight with. Their only «weapon» is the organization of terrorist acts, it is necessary to oppose namely this».
Dmitry Timchuk is the head of the Center for Military-Political Studies, a coordinator of the group Information resistance.
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