You're reading: Russian proxy leader in Donetsk proclaims creation of new ‘state’

The Russian-backed forces occupying part of Donetsk Oblast on July 18 proclaimed a new state “Malorossiya,” which they claim will “succeed Ukraine” as a state.

Previously, the Russian-backed forces in the oblast had styled themselves as the “People’s Republic of Donetsk” or “Novorossiya.”

Malorossiya is supposed to unite Russian-backed occupying forces in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, as well as other regions of Ukraine in the future, said the leader of the Russian-backed occupying forces in Donetsk, Oleksandr Zakharchenko.

However, shorty afterwards the Russian-backed authorities in the city of Luhansk said they wouldn’t participate in the new statelet – even though Zakharchenko said that their representatives had agreed to it.

In a statement published on the Luhansk Information Center website, the pseudo authorities in Russian-occupied Luhansk claimed they had never even discussed “Malorossiya” with their Donetsk-based counterparts.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko soon replied to the claim, saying that “the project of ‘Novorossiya’ is buried, and Ukraine will regain control of Donbas and Crimea.”

“Malorossiya,” which translates as “Little Russia,” was the name widely used for much of the territory of present-day Ukraine when it was part of the Russian Empire.

Some experts see the claim as the beginning of a new stage in the Kremlin’s hybrid war against Ukraine.

Volodymyr Tilishchak, the deputy head of the Ukrainian Institute of the National Remembrance, told the Kyiv Post that Zakharchenko’s claim means that the Kremlin’s plan to integrate occupied Donbas in Russia as “Novorossiya” had failed.

“By creating ‘Malorossiya’ they declare the defeat of the ‘Novorossiya’ project,” he said. “Now they are panicking and trying to create a new course, a fake ideology on historical grounds that would help them retain power.”

Zakharchenko claimed that “Malorossiya” was the only way to end the war in Donbas, which has been raging since 2014 and claimed the lives of over 10,000 people.

He said that if Ukrainians wanted to end the war in Donbas peacefully, they should support the idea of “Malorossiya” instead Ukraine.

He said that Donetsk would be the capital of “Malorossiya,” while Kyiv would be its cultural center – implying that the Russian occupying forces hope to extend the area they control to the whole of Ukraine.

Previously, Zakharchenko has said that his forces intended to seize the whole of Donetsk Oblast. At present, Russian-backed forces occupy around a third of the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

Russia also invaded and occupied the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in February and March 2014.