Lawyer and human rights defender Valeriy Novikov is one of the two (!) deputies of Alchevsk City Council, condemned the separatist referendum. The only oppositioner in the city parliament. The members of “Party of Regions” and communists consisted the biggest part of it. He stayed in the most black days for Donbass on the occupied territory for the time being. However, Novikov could severely pay for his carelessness, he was wanted by armed bandits. Leaved the motherland, the human rights activist concentrated on resettlement issues.

Alchevsk human rights defender shared his thoughts about refugees and hostile to them the state machine with informator.lg.ua.

• You were the observer on the elections in Chernigov. Do you conduct parallels with elections on Donbass? In general, is the unfair elections All-Ukrainian problem?

• The elections on Donbass almost always passed as agreed. All regional leaders of the parties were outbid and the members of the “Party of Regions” (“regionals” — ed.) negotiate with them. Only some towns had a real struggle, but it was impossible to resist to Akhmetov and Efremov for a few leaders of the public opinion. There weren’t enough forces to resist to falsification with absence of the support from the side of the central offices of the parties. Elections on Donbass can’t be called elections and elections in Chernigov can’t be called democratic and fair.

             All regions have their own features, but generally electoral system is the trouble, comparing with corruption. If we didn’t change it, we              will continue to watch for such a brothel, which is now taking place in the Verkhovna Rada.

• What about your attitude to the decision not to allow voting on the local elections to migrants?

• The migrants are different to aboriginals only that they didn’t have their own property on a territories where they live. Otherwise, they are equal members of the mass. The citizens of Ukraine who live in Belgium or Portugal have the same right to elect local power.

             People are for a long time in the taking masses. We mustn’t call it the sojourn. The power makes the mistake, establishing such a ban.

             Neither deputies, nor president, nor Cabinet of Ministers  don’t want to solve the problems of migrants. They even decided to                              discharge them from voting, that could stimulate a little bit the future candidates to pay attention to the problems of IDPs.

• How do you think, is the current law planned the possibility of voting for IDPs to be written or this is not supposed to be?
• It’s very simple. There is only one need to write the procedure into the law about local elections by which migrants could choose all levels of local councils, including heads of towns, cities and villages. The procedure can be the next: the IDP, registred in the mass, submits an application into the registers of voters with appeal to enter him into the list of voters of this mass. This will allow him to take part into the voting. The right of vote could speed up the solving of the problem of refugees. A lot of IDPs are against of the returning of old power, which made the situation in a way that civils were forced to leave their houses. That’s why they want to vote to influent on the future of Ukraine.
• It is not a secret that a lot of migrants are discriminated. What is the main problems of the adaptation on the new places of living of the migrants from Donbass, who left their houses?
• We can talk a lot about the problems of the internally displaced persons (IDPs). I want to notice that all problems of the migrants lay on the “three whales”: the absence of own housing, the absence of the job, which can allow to pay for rent housing, difficult procedure of the permit regime in ATO zone, where a lot of IDPs have stayed relatives and members of their families.
• It’s hard to talk about the discrimination in the war time. Of course it presents towards to migrants from the side of lessors of property, employers and some of citizens who can’t put themselves on a place of co-citizens, who found themselves in this difficult situation.
• We see the help to the migrants only from the side of the volunteers. The power is still “expressing its deep concern”. We regularly heard about the allocation of funds for the needs of migrants by the countries of EU, but I’m not going to put satisfied markto the authority of Ukraine in using them.  Solving the humanitarian problems of the refugees, we don’t work under the true reason of a problem, we postpone its decision for an indefinite period. Here the examples, when the rooms where migrants can be placed are simply empty. The potential of the entrepreneurs from the migrants isn’t involved, there is no work to promote the integration of the migrants into the taking masses. In the end, there is no strategic viewing of the state in the question of solving of  housing problems.

   

• Do you support the economy blockade of “DPR/LPR”?
• I don’t support full ban of the import of goods on the occupied territory. I consider, that there must be clear enumeration of goods, which are allowed to move through the demarcation line. It must include all the essential goods, medicines and all, without exception, the goods for children. But I consider invalid the work of the industrial enterprises on the occupied territory. Even if their juridical addresses were re-registered on the controlled by Ukraine territory, because of the impossibility to provide the safety of workers, the lack of control of environmental pollution, difficulties in determining the actual production volume, from which taxes are paid to the budget of Ukraine.
• The wood, metal, ferroalloys, coal and any equipment, which is necessary to working on the occupied territory enterprises are free to remove through the demarcation line now. And people who make a decision to move out from this territory can’t take with themselves over the years cashing property, because they have the limit for the volumes of transported things through Ukrainian block-posts. This is extremely unfair approach.
• Does the creation of the “Party of the Migrants” has the perspective?
• Ukraine doesn’t have the state financing of the parties and incomes of the most part of migrants are only enough to pay for rent and to feed the family. The biggest part won’t have an opportunity to pay membership fee, to devote time for the party building to the prejudice of work or maybe create this party under the concrete oligarch, who will see some profit to himself in it? As for me, I don’t see the rational link in this idea. It’s not so important for migrants to unite in the parties or public organizations. It’s important for us not to hope that our problems will solve by themselves. Road by walking!
• Ex-”regionals” and accomplices of separatists are on the freedom, moreover some of them are taking part in public policy. At the same time a lot of Ukrainian  volunteers are under arrest. How can you comment the current situation?
• It’s very difficult question, it is need to be asked to The President, Minister of Internal Affairs, General Prosecutor and the Chairman of Security Service of Ukraine.
• From one side, pro-Ukrainian residents of Donbass are blamed in the fact that they could not defend their cities and now they deserve everything that they have got. And from the other side the authority appeals to the criminally liable not those who incited conflicts, but those who openly opposed it. I consider that inhabitants of Luhansk and Donetsk regions must publicly get the information from the authorities about fact, who are from the law enforcements and in what measure bored the criminal responsibility for delivery of the territory to the occupier. Who was questioned among the deputies of local councils and city heads? We don’t talk even about the criminal responsibility! The General Prosecutor office haven’t reacted on my appeals yet, but we are not ready to put up with it. The time will come, when everyone, who let the blood for our homeland with its silent agreement, will answer. 
• What steps must do Ukraine to return Donbass?
• I’m not a supporter of the power liberation of Donbass. The time when it was possible with minimal losses was in the moments of capturing the building of SSU in Luhansk. At that time there weren’t needed neither airplanes, nor heavy machinery. There was enough a hundred of S.W.A.T. to demonstrate the force and local police wouldn’t come from the strong Ukraine on the side of the enemy. The opinion that we couldn’t resist to insurgents is the imposed opinion. Sometimes I even think that it was not mistakes of the power, it was deliberate surrender of the territory.
• Now the task of Ukraine is to remove the struggle in the diplomatic plane and to work with European and American partners. We need to force Russia to stop the aggression, entering new and weaken Russian economy sanctions. Ukrainian authority can’t allow to manipulate with itself. Ukraine needs equitable peace and it can come only after:
  • withdrawal of military hardware and Russian militants from the Donbass;
  • returning under control of Ukraine the border with RF;
  • deoccupation of Crimea;
  • lustration and political isolation of officials and politics who supported the occupier in different ways;
  • criminal prosecution to everyone who fighted against Ukraine and also everyone who with its own action or inaction helped to fuel the Ukrainian-Russian conflict;
  • the end of the trial of Vladimir Putin at the International Criminal Court in Hague.

   

• Alchevsk, where you start your political career, is mostly deprived of support of Ukraine. To whom can lean state in the occupied territories?
• The patriots, who could influent on the situation, or moved out on the controlled by Ukrainian authority or some of them are in the cellars of insurgents or some of them died. Those Ukrainians who forced to stay there can’t do anything with armed mercenaries. Any try of rebelling could threaten to life of their relatives and to their too. And for those who support the occupation authorities and now are disappointed in the rule, the mass protests doesn’t represent any danger, because separatists consider them like “theirs” though not lived up to their trust. According to this circumstances Ukraine must to build their own informational work, if, of course, current power has the aim to return the occupied territory under the control of the legitimate authorities.
• Prepared Mikita Pidgora for informator.lg.ua