In the activities of Pavel Skoropadsky, elected hetman of the Ukrainian state on April 28, 1918, one can find many parallels with the modern rulers of the country.
The fate of Pavel Skoropadsky - the first and last hetman of the Ukrainian state that existed for just over seven months - very well reflects the spirit of the era that reigned in Ukraine after the fall of autocracy in Russia. Former officer tsarist army soon after reigning in former empire mess, he betrayed all the ideals to which he swore allegiance, submitting to the German emperor, who established a resource protectorate in Ukraine. Voluntarily going under German occupation, the hetman, nevertheless, tried in one way or another to maneuver between all significant political forces in Ukraine. In this, his policy is very similar to the actions of both the previous and current Kyiv authorities.
The future “His Serene Highness the Most High Pan Hetman of All Ukraine” was born in 1873 in Germany into a noble family. He studied in the Russian Corps of Pages, then served in the cavalry units of the Russian imperial army. Participated in Russian-Japanese war, where he was awarded six orders for military merits, receiving the rank of colonel. After 1907, Skoropadsky’s career continued to take off, and the first world war he met with the rank of major general. Included cavalry units took an active part in the battles in East Prussia, then commanded the 5th Guards Cavalry Division, and by February 1917 rose to the rank of lieutenant general and the position of commander of the 34th army corps on the Southwestern Front.
Skoropadsky accepted the revolution that took place in Petrograd quite neutrally, and being a supporter of “independent Ukraine”, he had a positive attitude towards the formation of local government bodies - the Central Rada, headed by Lvov University professor Mikhail Grushevsky - the actual creator Ukrainian language. The new government body in Kyiv issued the so-called Universal, which proclaimed the creation of the Ukrainian people's republic(UNR). New public education tried to pursue a policy autonomous from the Provisional Government in Petrograd, without, however, claiming complete independence from Russia. However, the inability of Kerensky and company to lead to huge territory The elementary order of the former empire led to the fact that Kyiv nationalists increasingly felt freedom in their actions. And the revolution that took place in October 1917, which finally destroyed the previous system government controlled country, led to the desire of the Grushevsky government to finally separate itself from Russia, moreover, the Ukrainian nationalists were actively pushed to this by Germany and Austria-Hungary, who stood behind them, interested in the collapse of Russia and a protectorate over its richest regions.
The chaos in the country and the desire of the Bolsheviks to retain power lead to the signing in March 1918 of the infamous Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty, which allowed German and Austrian troops to Ukraine. The Germans who came to the territory of marginal Rus' saw that the Central Rada had virtually no power outside of Kyiv, and other regions, counties and cities were under the rule of various gangs of bandits, often fighting among themselves. It is worth noting, however, that even before the agreement signed in Brest-Litovsk, the UPR concluded with the Germans own agreement, according to which the Central Rada pledged to supply Berlin and Vienna over the next few months with more than 60 million pounds of bread, several million pounds of meat, 400 million eggs, hundreds of thousands of pounds of lard, sugar, butter, and other products. Naturally, free of charge. In essence, this agreement turned Ukraine into a raw materials appendage of the central powers.
German troops in Kyiv, 1918
Soon they were already in Kyiv German troops under the command of Field Marshal Hermann von Eichhorn. The leaders of the Central Rada tried their best to please their new masters, but the Germans quickly realized that they could not rely on Grushevsky and his people to establish order in the country. Namely, the successful implementation of the resource plans of Berlin and Vienna in Ukraine depended on order. Therefore, the occupiers began to look for those who could restore basic order in the territory entrusted to them. They were looking among large landowners, among whom the most suitable candidate turned out to be Pavel Skoropadsky, who was also a member Masonic lodge"Great East". The Germans, without thinking twice, decided to name the new “ruler” hetman.
The choice was made, after which all that remained was to legitimize his entry into power. For this purpose, a real performance was invented, which, ironically, took place in the circus on Nikolaevskaya Street in Kyiv. For this purpose, a delegation of “grain growers-owners” was assembled, which made passionate speeches, demanding to save Ukraine from chaos, and this can only be done by the strong hand of the “national leader,” that is, the hetman. After this, the German puppeteers brought Skoropadsky, dressed as a Cossack, into the circus box, whom the “grain growers” shouted out as the new head of the country. The Central Rada was then dispersed, and the new hetman settled in former house Kyiv Governor-General, where an armed German guard was located on the floor below. So Pavel Petrovich had power on German bayonets, not only figuratively, but also in the literal sense.
Memoirists of that time noted that Skoropadsky was an extremely vain and ambitious man, so it is not surprising that he took power from the hands of the Germans, having previously fought with them on the fronts for three years. At the same time, all the time of the hetmanate, the Germans, who wanted to tear off rich in resources Ukraine from Russia, no expense was spared on Ukrainophile propaganda. It was under the hetman that it began mass implementation into the consciousness of the Russians living there, the Ukrainian language, culture, as well as the very idea of Ukraine as non-Russia. Ukrainian gymnasiums were opened en masse in cities, the Ukrainian language was introduced into teaching, and subjects appeared Ukrainian history, Ukrainian geography (where the “independent” territory included Crimea and Kuban). New ideologized higher authorities were also created educational establishments, Ukrainian opened historical Museum, National Library Ukrainian state, the national theater, the Academy of Sciences and other cultural and art institutions, which persistently transmitted the ideas of Ukrainianness to the consciousness of the masses. At the same time, teaching in Russian was sharply limited.
Austro-German poster of Ukraine with Crimea, Donbass and even Kuban
However, the main goal of the Germans in Ukraine was still related to resources, and Skoropadsky tried to implement the agreement of the Central Rada with Germany and Austria unquestioningly. Until defeat German Empire in 1918, a huge number of trains with food went from Ukraine to the west. Sending food to his “allies” in the west, “His Lordship the Bright Pan” at the same time established a food and transport blockade Crimea, which was not eager to come under the rule of the “broad” hetman. Skoropadsky himself spoke about the peninsula the following words: “Ukraine cannot live without owning Crimea, it will be some kind of torso without legs. Crimea should belong to Ukraine, under what conditions, it makes no difference whether it is a complete merger or broad autonomy, the latter will depend on the desires of the Crimeans themselves, but we need to be fully protected from hostile actions on the part of Crimea. In an economic sense, Crimea actually cannot exist without us.” Doesn’t this resemble the current post-Crimean situation, when, wanting to return the peninsula under its rule, the Poroshenko regime organizes all kinds of blockades one after another, and also takes actions on the border with the peninsula that are openly hostile to its people? Of course, there is practically one hundred percent similarity situations almost 100 years apart.
As for the armed forces, Skoropadsky can well be called the founder of the Ukrainian army, which is now a collection of bandits, thugs and simply psychopaths who continue to terrorize the cities of Donbass. The national Ukrainian armed forces began during the war in 1916-1917, when the future last hetman Ukraine spent in units Southwestern Front Ukrainization, which consisted in promoting the ideas of Ukrainianness and assigning entire regiments of the Russian army to “national Ukrainian”. As a result of all these unscrupulous manipulations, Skoropadsky’s army by mid-1918 amounted to about 60 thousand bayonets. It is noteworthy that some of these regiments continued to be led by their previous commanders - Russian officers, while others fell under the command of Ukrainian nationalists. At the same time, they also led the created militant groups called “ Free Cossacks", of which Skoropadsky became ataman in October 1918. By the way, due to the insufficient number of words invented at that time for language, military regulations Skoropadsky's army consisted only half of the Ukrainian language, and the other half of the German language, since military terms were simply absent in the dialect of the local Little Russian peasants.
It is worth noting that the rather heterogeneous composition of the hetman’s army, in which Russian officers coexisted, Ukrainian nationalists and German military instructors, in general is a reflection of the entire Ukrainian policy of that time. The fact is that three forces had influence on the territory of “Nezalezhnaya” at that time: 1) the Germans, who were the main, determining force, 2) Ukrainian nationalists, 3) Russian officers from among the White Guards. With the latter, Skoropadsky collaborated to a certain extent against the Bolsheviks; besides, the whites in the Kuban were then actively helped by the Germans with weapons and ammunition, who, like Skoropadsky, were making their own plans for this rich region. Thus, political situation in Ukraine was then quite confusing, but the hetman himself tried to sit, as they say, on several chairs, maintaining loyalty to some, and at the same time trying not to offend others, to please “both ours and yours.” We've already done something like this in modern history, and we all know how it all ended in February 2014.
The defeat of Germany in November 1918 made Skoropadsky's position, if not hopeless, then very close to it. His popularity among the people was very low, since it was he who was blamed for returning peasant lands, livestock and equipment to the landowners, and punitive detachments were shot for the slightest disobedience to those pursuing the interests of the Germans and large landowners hetman. Feeling that it “smelled like something was fried” without having more possibilities to be under the protection of the Germans, Skoropadsky turns to the whites, declaring that he stands for a united and indivisible Russia and is ready to cooperate with them in expelling the Bolsheviks from the country. The Whites, however, did not appreciate the hetman’s impulse. The Entente countries also did not want to cooperate with the doomed hetman. And on December 14, 1918, under the pressure of Petlyura’s rebels, Skoropadsky left Kyiv along with the Germans, leaving the troops loyal to him to the mercy of fate.
In his back and forth between several sides, Skoropadsky is similar to Viktor Yanukovych. Skoropadsky has one undeniable similarity with Poroshenko. The fact is that Poroshenko, like Skoropadsky a hundred years ago, are considered compromise figures in Ukrainian politics, who were supposed to eliminate disputes among the native elite over power. Like the Germans a hundred years ago, the Americans held a spectacle called elections to legitimize the regime in the eyes of the population, although Poroshenko’s fate was decided not by the people of Ukraine, but in Washington and the American embassy in Kyiv. Also, the fate of Skoropadsky, who was elected hetman, was decided not by the “grain growers” and the people of border Rus', but German occupiers, whom “His Lordship” allowed to do whatever they wanted in the country. The German occupation forces were directly involved in decision-making. In today's Ukraine, the main role in domestic policy played by the American embassy and visiting controllers like Victoria Nuland and Joe Biden, while the external one is determined in Washington itself.
Left - V. Nuland and Petro Poroshenko, right - German Emperor Wilhelm II and Pavel Skoropadsky
A similar situation is with Ukrainian army, which Poroshenko positions in the eyes of the world community as “the strongest land army Europe". However, the number of deserters in it amounts to thousands, and even those who fall into official statistics allows us to estimate the approximate scale of flight from the Independent Army. The “broad hetman” also faced a similar problem, who in 1918 recruited an army of 60 thousand bayonets, but very soon discovered that almost half of it had deserted, and the remaining people did not want to fight for the hetman. It is not surprising, therefore, that Kyiv fell so quickly in December 1918. The people, tortured by all sorts of territorial battalions that had a bunch of weapons in their hands and did not obey either Skoropadsky or the Germans, did not want to fight for Skoropadsky. Complete anarchy. Will the same thing await today's Ukraine? It is likely that this is where everything is heading. In any case, the story of Hetman Skoropadsky very clearly demonstrates to us the essence of Ukrainian politics and its natural ending. The quick fall of Hetman Skoropadsky, who lived up to his name, is a lesson for the current Kyiv regime, confident in the stability of its position under American protection.
Prince Svyatopolk Vladimirovich (980-1019)
Nicknamed the Damned. Probably deservedly so: on his conscience is the murder of his brothers - princes Boris and Gleb, the first Russian saints. For the first time I decided to do “the best thing” in my state with the help of the West. His father-in-law Polish king Boleslav, came to the rescue. But it didn’t work out. In Kyiv, Poles raped, robbed and killed. The people of Kiev staged a “night Maidan” - they massacred all the Poles. The fate of the prince is sad - he was defeated by paralysis and abandoned by his allies.
Prince Daniil Galitsky (1204-1264)
He also sought support from the West and accepted the royal crown from the hands of the Pope. Allowed Catholics to build churches and open schools. It didn’t help: the West didn’t send any help. All the fortresses of the land he ruled were destroyed, and Daniel himself humiliatedly went to the Horde: “Oh, the Tatar honor is more evil than evil,” - this is how the chronicler mentioned his trip.
Hetmans and the power of Poland (1500-1654)
Hetman Pavel Jan Sapieha (1609-1665)
Son of an associate of False Dmitry II. He had a fierce hatred for everything Russian, with with varying success fought with Russia. But at the same time he admitted: “Against us is not a gang of self-willed people, but great power whole Rus'. The entire Russian people from villages, hamlets, towns... threatens to eradicate the Polish tribe and raze the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Poland - Ed.) from the face of the earth.”
Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky (1596-1657)
Under him, Ukraine suffered severe humiliation from Poland. Galicia, Volyn and the Bratslav region lost up to 50% of the population - “those Orthodox Christians who did not flee to Moldova or to the Russian Tsar were impaled.” As a result, a Rada (council) was convened in 1654. And in response to Khmelnitsky’s proposal to choose for Ukraine one of the four sovereigns - the Turkish Sultan, the Crimean Khan, the Polish King or the Moscow Tsar - and surrender to his citizenship, she confirmed the will of the people: “We want the Orthodox Tsar of Moscow!”
Russian Empire (1689-1917)
Ivan Mazepa (1639-1709)
Enjoyed Peter's trust. And yet he brought the Swedes to Russia “for greater freedom for Ukraine.” Everyone knows how it ended. And the word “Mazepa” was used back in the 19th century. served as an exact synonym for the word “traitor.”
Catherine the Great (1729-1796)
Yes, the Zaporozhye freemen were destroyed by it. But Crimea was annexed. Yes, it has been restored in some places serfdom. But the former Polish lands, where Ukrainians were oppressed, joined Ukraine. For once, Ukraine has become united within its historical borders.
USSR (1922-1991)
Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)
When the division of lands of the newly created USSR was carried out in 1922, there was a hitch. The lands of Donbass were declared disputed. And only Lenin then said: “Only through the forces of the progressive workers of these regions will we balance the Makhnovist anarchy!” Then they balanced. But the debate continues to this day. And already armed.
Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971)
Now they remember only one thing about him - “he gave Crimea to Ukraine.” Khrushchev’s decision is associated with the construction of the North Crimean Canal from the Kakhovka Reservoir on the Dnieper: they say, large-scale hydraulic engineering work was easier to carry out and finance within one republic. But others see it clean water voluntarism.
Leonid Kravchuk (born in 1934)
First President independent Ukraine. Exchanged nuclear weapon on economic assistance, which, however, was half stolen and half wasted.
Viktor Yushchenko (born 1954)
In 2004 he led the “orange” revolution. The United States and the European Union promised to recognize Ukraine as a “country with market economy" In response, Yushchenko took a course towards clearly anti-Russian policy. The course turned out to be infectious...
On Sunday night, several armored mission vehicles appeared near the hotel in Donetsk where OSCE observers were staying. The DPR authorities did not rule out the possibility that the cars were set on fire by saboteurs for the purpose of provocation.
However, the Secretary of the Council national security and Defense (NSDC) of Ukraine Alexander Turchynov hastened to declare that separatists are behind the arson of the OSCE mission vehicles, who allegedly want to remove international observers from the demarcation line.
Of course, Turchynov knows better from Kyiv what is really happening in Donetsk and Lugansk, unless another provocation against the defenders of Donbass was organized by the National Security and Defense Council headed by him.
I note that on the same day the activity of Ukrainian security forces along the border with the militia increased sharply. So, on the eve of the weekend, representatives of the DPR-LPR pulled together heavy equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the line of contact with the militias, and on Sunday, Ukrainian security forces, for several hours, attacked Gorlovka with mortars and attacked Yasinovataya and some other settlements of Donbass.
Provocations on the border with Donbass will become more frequent
As Kyiv begins to prepare for local elections, which are due to take place on October 25, the intensification of political competition will inevitably be accompanied by an intensification of military confrontation. At the same time, the escalation of tension in the country and new round armed confrontation on the border with Donbass is primarily beneficial to opponents of the current president.
Poroshenko has no choice but to achieve dictatorshipPetro Poroshenko realized long ago that the number of his enemies exceeded critical mass. And the country is falling apart at the seams. So, Vladimir Lepekhin believes that his establishment of a dictatorship of personal power is not far off.Poroshenko was elected head of state under the slogans of peace. It is clear that before the defeat at Debaltsevo, he fought the war in a hurry, but today he is already quite satisfied with the situation of “neither peace, nor war,” especially when elections are approaching, which can decide a lot. In any case, some people in Kyiv (more about them below) are interested in nourishing local authorities power by Pravosek and other Nazi rabble.
Earlier, I noted that Petro Poroshenko, in order to survive, needs to become a dictator.
However, today in Ukraine there are people and structures that he is unlikely to cope with. And these people and structures entered into a battle for power in accordance with the program laid down in them.
According to this program, it is necessary to intensify shelling of cities and other punitive operations in Donbass, in order to then present them to voters as “military actions Russian army against free Ukraine." This should encourage voters to vote more actively for " true patriots", that is, for nationalists and radicals, and most importantly - for the "People's Front" of Turchynov-Yatsenyuk. Rating " Popular Front", by the way, is growing thanks to the consistent anti-Russian rhetoric of its leaders, while the rating of Poroshenko's party, which lost the war in Donbass, is steadily falling.
It is no coincidence that, commenting on the arson of the cars of the OSCE mission in Donetsk, Turchynov said with a blue eye: “ the main objective Russia - to remove international observers from the occupied territory in order to fire uncontrollably on Ukrainian territory and prepare its armed forces for an offensive operation."
Question: in whose interests was such a blasphemous statement made, the text of which was probably ready even before unidentified saboteurs set fire to the cars of OSCE observers?
The OSCE mission must not witness new Nazi atrocities
Provocations against the OSCE mission have, I believe, one more hidden meaning. So, according to the scenario of the next coup d'etat in Kyiv, called upon to replace the weak and unreliable “Orthodox” Petro Poroshenko with true Aryans like the “Protestant” Alexander Turchinov or the seemingly Catholic Arseniy Yatsenyuk, observers of various international organizations should not understand how this will happen.
The coup should take place unnoticed and seemingly peacefully. Without Maidans and various kinds shootings on Bankova.
The first stage of the beginning of a change of power in Ukraine should be local elections in October of this year, in which, by the way, electoral blocs do not have the right to participate (which is not in Poroshenko’s favor). The next step— victory of the Popular Front in early elections to the Verkhovna Rada.
Well, early elections will most likely be started after the next upheaval in the Donbass, where shadow-controlled right-wing radicals will do everything to disrupt the Minsk agreements - and this, according to the plan, should not be interfered with by missionaries from the OSCE.
And what’s interesting: the masters of the right-wing radicals (unlike the Banderaites themselves) are not at all going to win the new war against the DPR-LPR militia.
Firstly, they don’t need the destroyed and rebellious (“bydlyachiy”) Donbass today, even for nothing: resistance to the rebellious territory is considered by nationalists solely as a pretext for carrying out terrorist actions throughout Ukraine in order to intimidate the population and suppress designated political opponents.
Secondly, right-wing radicals need Poroshenko to Once again showed the population his weakness and inability to resist the enemy.
The Pravosek puppeteers need to involve as many volunteers as possible in sabotage actions in the Donbass. Sabotage makes it possible not only to maintain the appearance of war with Russia, but also to keep National Guard(under the control of the People’s Front activist Avakov) and the “Right Sector” detachments (an extremist organization whose activities are prohibited in Russia).
The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine is today, in fact, a government agency responsible for organizing dangers in the country and attacks on its own citizens. This is a structure that is waging, in a shadowy way, a struggle for power and against Poroshenko, passing off its personal war as a war between Ukraine and Russia.
The black cardinal of modern Ukraine
Over the 23 years of Ukrainian independence, Western intelligence services have churned out a lot of puppets here. But Turchinov is the main shadow player, whom many take for a gray and not entirely sane high-ranking official. Meanwhile, it is he who stands on the path to the dictatorship of Poroshenko’s personal power.
Turchinov is not just an ordinary CIA agent like Nalyvaichenko. His strength lies in the fact that he is an ideological and professional Russophobe and anti-communist. And when we say “Turchynov”, we mean the system of shadow power in Ukraine, which ten years ago - immediately after Viktor Yushchenko came to power - he began to create (of course, under the control American intelligence agencies) Turchinov himself.
In 1995, former Komsomol propagandist Turchinov defended his doctoral dissertation on the shadow economy. In 1999, he was baptized in the Protestant Church "Word of Life", which is in the directory "Religions and Sects in modern Russia", released Russian Association centers for the study of religion and sects (RACIRS), is characterized as “a destructive cult of pseudo-Christian charismatic orientation, exerting strong influence on the psyche of adherents." And in 2005, President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, married to an employee of the US State Department, "suddenly" appointed the banal Verkhovna Rada deputy Turchynov as head of the Security Service of Ukraine, and in 2007 - first deputy head of the National Security and Defense Council. Question: for what merit?
On February 22, 2014, at the instigation of the US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt, Turchynov was elected Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, after which the very next day he declared himself acting. President of Ukraine, and on February 26 also the Commander-in-Chief of the country's Armed Forces.
And again the question: how and for what merits did this character suddenly appear on the political horizon of Ukraine, like a jack-in-the-box, taking over key positions in the state? Is it not for special services to the “Word of Life” sect created by neo-charismatics in the USA and other specific American structures?
In April last year, it was Turchynov who announced the beginning of the ATO in the rebel regions of Donbass. This is truly a “bloody pastor”!
I believe that we should take a closer look at this character. It is possible that Turchynov today is the true ruler of Ukraine, whom the people did not elect as such. And why? After all, it is more convenient for those “watching” Ukraine to be in the shadows.
However, every second Ukrainian journalist knows: the most untouchable figure in the country is Turchynov.