On a personal note: This is the last article I will post from Tokyo for “Ukraine: Perspectives.” Next you will be hearing from me from New York in the Hudson Valley.

I realize that many of you are suffering from the everyday-is-a-bad-news-day syndrome. Yet, the War continues in Ukraine - an unprovoked tragedy on innocent men, women, and children. I am committed to keeping you up to date on Ukraine and the 2022 War. Please send me any questions you might have that can form topics for future articles.

Image: Mstyslav Chernov, Protesters fighting government forces on Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kiev on 18 February 2014.

The Maidan Protests: November 21, 2013 to February 24, 2014.

The 3 month protest and occupation of Kyiv’s Maidan Independence Square in 2014 has an outsized importance in the history of the Russo-Ukraine War. Those massive demonstrations of 2014 led Ukraine to shift decidedly toward Europe and away from Russia. Ukrainian youth have become more politically active - calling for an end to chronic corruption and the establishment of reforms committed to a more liberal democratic state in line with the demands of the European Union. The capitulation of the government to the demands of the Maidan demonstrators lead Putin to annex Crimea and support the creation of separate states in Donetsk and Luhansk.

It is no coincidence that the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia began on February 24, 2022; February 24, 2014 is the date of the end of the Maidan Protests.

The protest was started in the rain and snow with students yelling, “We are a European nation and we will fight for our future.” At first a few hundred students gathered - connected through social media and who were frustrated that President Yanukovych who had been elected in 2010 refused to sign a trade agreement with the European Union as he had promised in the elections. “Ukraine is part of Europe!” they yelled. “I came here to defend my future, the future of my children.” They were joined by thousands.

Yanukovych responded by passing Anti-Protest Laws on January 16, 2014.

Some of the laws were just silly and desperate such as: 1) passing an anti-mask law with the provision of up to 15 days in jail for participation in peaceful gatherings wearing a mask, camouflage clothing, scarf, helmet, or other means of concealing or protecting one's face or head, and 2) giving up to 15 days in jail for unauthorised installation of tents, stages and sound equipment.

Other laws were signs of a tightening dictatorship - harsh laws restricting freedom of speech and assembly: 1) giving the government the ability to prohibit access to the Internet as well as the right to censor any Internet sites; 2) disallowing NGOs and churches from supporting civil protests; 3) giving amnesty to those who commit crimes against protestors, including the Berkut and other police; and 4) penalizing the blocking of government buildings.

The protestors responded by wearing ski helmets, diving masks and flippers. Some wore red helmets with the words “Fuck You” on the back. Old women wore metal pots decorated with flowers and one protester said sardonically, “You see a lot of people wearing kitchen pots. They forgot to put that in their laws. They should add that immediately.”

Yanukovych sent in armed troops. The Berkut came armed with iron sticks, guns, and sniper rifles. The Berkut was a nasty group of armed troops. A Ukrainian system of special riot police, it was a successor of the brutal Soviet OMON.

The protesters hoped to bring the police and Berkut over to their side. One yelled into a megaphone saying, “I appeal to the police. You gave an oath to serve the Ukrainian nation, not to Yanukovych and his gang!” And the crowds chanted, “Join us. You are Ukrainians. How can you do this?” And, “Shame, shame, shame.” “Drop your guns.” Priests from a nearby monastery begged the police to put down their weapons.

But, Yanukovych’s troops did not lay down their iron sticks or their rifles. And why not? Because, on January 27th the Minister of Defense announced sharp pay raises for military personnel, and the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a secret resolution to increase the size of the Berkut force sixfold to 30,000; they also set up a fund to buy additional ammunition. Those officers standing in the front lines received pay bonuses, and extra bonuses for capturing protesters.

The country was furious. The protesters did not disperse- they were unrelenting and their numbers grew in size. Many regions of the country sent in protesters, young and old. “Yanukovych raised his hand against our children!” they yelled. The military reserve came to support the protesters, to build barricades and teach the students to fight back. Now there were demands for new elections and demands to rid the country of the corrupt Putin-supporting government.

And finally, as there was no sign that protests would end, in February 2014 Viktor Yanokovych escaped from Kyiv and turned to his friend Putin for asylum. The Parliament voted to remove Yanukovych from office by a vote of 328 to 0 and the subsequent interim government signed the EU association agreement. New elections were held and a West leaning leader, Petro Poroshenko, was elected president.

The new government passed legislation to limit the powers of the President. The President lost the power to nominate the Prime Minister which became the role of the Parliament. In addition, to the removal of Yanokovych and the limitation of presidential powers, there was a large scale purge of civil servants who had been hired by Yanokovych.

Another outcome of the removal of the pro-Russian leaders was a removal of all monuments and signs left over from the now defunct Soviet Union - the Soviet Union - a symbol of another Russian occupation.

6 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union I was surprised at the many statutes and monuments honoring Lenin and his followers. Streets and towns were named after Soviet leaders - Nikita Khruschev was particularly popular. Even our dorm in Lutsk was a “Khruschev building,” in honor of the man who was responsible for building so many 5 story buildings post WW II.

The Decommunization law of 2015 led to the renaming of 51,493 streets and 987 villages - 1,320 monuments to Lenin and 1,069 monuments to other communist figures were removed. One of the main provisions of the bill was a declaration that the Soviet Union was a "criminal state" and it had "pursued a state policy of terror." The legislation prohibited the use of communist symbols. Interestingly, the parliament also passed a law that replaced the term "Great Patriotic War” with "World War II,” a change that was symbolic of Ukraine’s rejection of Russia and symbolically moved Ukraine closer to Europe as the term World War II is more in line with the vocabulary of European nations and the United States.

The Minister of the Interior commenced a lengthy campaign to ban the Ukrainian Communist Party, however the Party survived and campaigned to defeat President Zelensky’s efforts to make reforms after 2019. This 2022 War may have put the nail on the coffin nf the Ukrainian Communist Party, heir to its Soviet predecessor. In March, Zelensky led and successfully banned all Communist Parties and Russian leaning parties claiming that these parties supported Russia in its aggressive war. “Given the full-scale war unleashed by Russia, and the political ties that a number of political structures have with this state, (Ukraine will) suspend any activity of a number of political parties for the period of martial law,” said Zelensky. The Opposition Platform for Life, Zelensky’s biggest opposition party, led by Viktor Medvedchuk who is a pro-Moscow oligarch with very close ties to Putin was also banned. Last year Ukraine charged Medvedchuk with treason and placed the oligarch under house arrest- making Putin, godfather to Medvedchuk’s daughter, unhappy!

Putin has not forgotten Maidan, or the loss of his puppet leader. He has not forgiven Ukraine and its decommunization campaign - or for changing the name of Kyiv, or banning the Communist Party, or for dishonoring his godchild’s father. He has not forgotten any of it. He believes that Russia has been betrayed and so has he. Putin said a few days before invading Ukraine, “We can see that the forces that staged the coup in Ukraine in 2014 have seized power (and) are keeping it with the help of an ornamental election procedure…”