Oleksandr Prasolov was from Kharkiv. He had met his wife in high school and married her before leaving to attend undergraduate university and graduate school in London. After completing his Master Degree in Economics from the London School of Economics in the mid-1990s, he went on to work for a well-known global management consulting firm. He led a team for his firm in Russia as the government worked to privatize much of the economy that had been state-owned. Despite his busy schedule, Oleksandr and his wife managed to have two children during this time. He then directed several other major projects for his firm, traveling to a number of the other former soviet republics. Being fluent in English, Russian, and Ukrainian had given him an edge in being able to handle a number of the complex privatization projects these former soviet republics were undertaking.
After Oleksandr made partner with the firm, his wife gave birth to their twin daughters. He then had four children all under the age of seven. One Christmas, he realized his children were growing up right before him but he had not been there for them as much as he should have. As his young son crawled into his lap, he suddenly wondered, “How much of their young lives have I already missed because of my job? My wife and children may have a posh lifestyle in London, but I have been spending so much time away from them, traveling to one country or another. If I don’t change something in my life soon, I will never be the father they deserve.”
After the holiday, he reached out to some of his contacts back in Kharkiv and was offered a job in the Governor’s office, helping him with growing the economy in the region. Within a year of working in this capacity, he was soon offered a position as a deputy minister in the Yanukovych Administration. The President was in the process of negotiating the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement, which would help to integrate Ukraine slowly into the European Union (EU). While he had been a supporter of the EU as an expatriate living in London, the more he delved into the details of this agreement, the more he saw this was not as great a deal as the government was being led to believe.
As he thumbed through the pages of legal-speak, he thought to himself, “I know Ukraine is struggling, but this agreement isn’t going to help anything. In order for us to receive any of the EU subsidies or a bailout from the European Commission Bank or the International Monetary Fund, we would have to undergo a series of severe austerity measures, just like Greece, Spain, or Portugal. This measure would cripple Ukraine. It would take our short-term issue and make it a long-term economic problem.”
He brought these concerns up to others in his committee and to the President; however, most of them were willing to go along with the austerity if it meant Ukraine could get the bailout money they needed and move further away from Russia. Oleksandr was frustrated that no one heard him.
Then, one day, President Yanukovych asked him to start talks with Russia about joining the Eurasian Customs Union, which was led by Russia and included the countries of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Having led a number of privatization projects in many of these countries, Oleksandr was familiar with this customs union and the benefit it could provide Ukraine. The Russians also offered to infuse Ukraine with a lump sum of cash without imposing austerity upon them. They even offered a heavily reduced price on natural gas, which would further help the Ukrainian economy.
Unfortunately, the Euromaidan uprising took place and then spun out of control. Before he knew it, President Yanukovych was removed from his role within the government and forced to leave Kiev. He fled to Russia, and the Ukrainian government was taken over by a pro-fascist EU-dominated element. However, Oleksandr was not willing to let his country fall into the hands of these rogue fascists that were trying to bring his nation back into civil war. By working with Russia and other separatist groups, he gained enough support to rally others around his cause. Together, they called for Eastern Ukraine to be independent from the central government and join the other separatist regions.
As Oleksandr began to hold rallies all across the region, an informant within the separatist movement leaked the Kharkiv plans to the central government and detailed what Oleksandr and the separatist groups were planning. It was at this point that Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman decided to send in an Anti-Terrorist Unit to arrest Oleksandr and end this movement before it spread any further.
Oblivious to the plot against him, Oleksandr looked out at the eager faces of the crowd as one of the community organizers worked them up into a frenzy. He smiled broadly at the sight of nearly ten thousand people who had shown up to hear him speak. This would be his third day speaking here, and by far, the largest crowd. The more people he met, the more confident he felt that he was gaining the support of the region, and soon would be able to call for its independence and breakaway from the central government.
The crowd roared as the lead speaker and organizer of the event introduced him, waving for him to come to the center stage. Oleksandr smiled as he walked towards his friend, shaking his hand as he took the microphone from him. The crowd slowly started to calm themselves, enough so he could speak and be heard.
“My fellow citizens, I want to thank you for your support and for coming here tonight to hear me speak. Our nation has been torn apart by those wanting to impose the will of the German-dominated EU on us. Let us not forget that it was the fascist Germans who occupied our nation once. Now they want to occupy us again, this time, through their dominance and control of the EU.”
The crowd roared. The people were really eating this rhetoric up. People saw what was happening in Greece, Spain, and Portugal and did not want that same fate of austerity to be imposed upon them as well.
Oleksandr raised his hands to calm the people before continuing. “Look at the southern EU members. Greece has been reduced to a beggar nation. They have over fifty percent unemployment… and this has everything to do with the German-imposed austerity they had to agree to in order to receive a bailout from the European Central Bank. Look at what has happened to their country — not just from the austerity, but from the migrant crisis that once again has been created by the fascist German government. They welcome these Muslims into their country by the hundreds of thousands. Now, millions of Muslim refugees are flooding across the Greek, Italian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, and Hungarian borders.” The crowd booed as he brought up the refugee crisis.
“These Muslims do not represent our European Christian values, yet the Germans, in their effort to divide and control Europe, have imported them by the millions to sow chaos and anarchy. If the fascist jackals in Kiev get their way, Ukraine will become a part of the EU and then we will have to accept the German austerity plans and take in hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees, just like every other EU member. I say enough! It is time for the people of Kharkiv to rise up and form our own Republic, independent of the fascist-led government in Kiev!”
Now the gathering was cheering wildly. Oleksandr let the roar of the crowd wash over him as he stood there, basking in the energy of it all. Thousands upon thousands of supporters chanted his name, and then demanded that they separate from the central government.
Within minutes of him ending his opening speech, police dressed in riot gear began to show up at several entrances to Freedom Square. They pulled out their loud speakers and ordered the crowd, “Disperse! Leave the square! If you refuse, you will be arrested!”
Oleksandr grabbed the microphone he had just relinquished to the next speaker and yelled to the crowd, “See?! The fascist government does not want your voices to be heard! They want you to submit to their iron will and that of Germany! Will we submit?”