The Center for International Security and Euro-Atlantic Cooperation, established with assistance from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was inaugurated the other day at Donetsk National University in the presence of a NATO delegation on an informal visit to this coal-mining capital. The main goal of the two-day visit to the Donetsk region was to “overcome the negative image of the organization in this region.” The NATO delegation also visited Kharkiv and Odesa.
As it was pointed out during a roundtable discussion on NATO- Ukraine relations, Donetsk oblast was intentionally chosen as one of the key points on the NATO delegation’s itinerary because, to quote Donetsk Mayor Oleksandr Lukyanchenko, “the vast majority of Donetsk residents know very little about the bloc and, hence, categorically oppose Ukraine’s accession to the North Atlantic alliance.” The mayor believes that this attitude stems from the still common stereotype about NATO as an aggressive bloc. For example, according to leaflets being circulated in Donetsk, “since its inception NATO has killed about 20 million people, bombed 24 states, and wiped out 25,000 people in Iraq.”
In an attempt to eradicate the idea that NATO is an essentially aggressive and exclusively military organization, the Donetsk regional government organized a roundtable, during which it insisted on the need to organize a large-scale information campaign in the region and an active dialogue with NATO representatives in Ukraine. According to the oblast governor, Vadym Chuprun, the regional leadership is doing its best to convince as many Donbas residents as possible of the advantages of NATO. In this scheme much attention is being focused on the local press. For example, since the beginning of this year the regional media have carried special articles spotlighting NATO and its links with the Donetsk region. According to data collected by the regional authorities, during this same period local television broadcast 250 special programs on this subject. Although the oblast regularly holds various conferences and roundtables on the advantages and disadvantages of NATO, these efforts are clearly insufficient.
This is precisely why a new information and analysis center was opened in Donetsk. Its main purpose, according to Volodymyr Shevchenko, the rector of Donetsk National University, is to provide as much information as possible about NATO activities and programs and about fundamental research on this subject by Ukrainian and foreign academics. Donetsk residents have been promised that the center will be amply equipped with modern computer facilities, including free access to NATO’s Web site. Visitors to the center will also be offered such services as video conferences.
The new center located in the Faculty of History at Donetsk National University is already enjoying active support and attention from the staff and students.
But a number of Donetsk residents still categorically oppose not only Ukraine’s membership in NATO but even the slightest manifestations of NATO activities in this country. A small but noisy protest rally took place in Donetsk on the eve of the NATO delegation’s visit. The rally organizers — the Progressive Socialist, Slavic, and Communist parties — managed to gather about 70 people in front of Donetsk University. The protesters chanted the slogans “NO to NATO!” and “Down with NATO!” and sang some Soviet wartime songs.
Opponents of NATO think that by establishing centers in Odesa, Kharkiv, and Donetsk, the alliance has launched “an information invasion of eastern Ukraine.”
