Zubov: The war in the Donbas is the war between two principles: humanistic and totalitarian

The war in the Donbas is not the war between the two countries - Ukraine and Russia. This is the war between two principles: on the one hand European and humanistic, on the other one - Soviet and totalitarian, said Andrei Zubov, a Russian Professor during the 8th Kyiv Security Forum organized by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation.

The Russian professor said that the main principle of European Christian civilization is “focus on a man”. "This is much more important than the rest concepts: state, nation, civilization. In our Christian civilization Christ came to people to enable them to save themselves. People, not a state," - he said.

Instead, in totalitarian, communist consciousness or its Nazi format “some abstract concept is more important than a person: the principle of nation, race”. Man, however, in this approach is simply "a small mechanism, a cog" by which this abstract concept is achieved.

According to Zubov, with a deeper look one will see that the conflict between Ukraine and Russia does not mean that "the Ukrainians are more European, Christian or humanistic". "No. The problem is in a completely different approach for all our countries, that 25 years ago were a part of the Soviet Union. With the exception of the three Baltic republics there were no more attempts of systematic decommunisation and detotalitarisation," - he said. Only Georgia tried to do something that was realized only in the Central and Eastern European republics, and not completely, says Professor Zubov.

"As a result in Russia this undestroyed totalitarian consciousness became forceful again. That is why we now witness the recovery, revival of the second edition of totalitarian thinking," - he explained. According to him, Yeltsin's government was building a new society on the ground of the former totalitarian society and that was its major mistake.

The Ukrainians have decided to take another way, of which the revolution of dignity is the proof. However, the professor believes that it is not a systematic decommunisation and time will tell how successful this attempt will be.

Today Russia is taking on the characteristics of fascist Italy of Mussolini era, convinced the professor from the Russian Federation.

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The annual international event ‘Kyiv Security Forum’, established by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation in 2007 is a platform for discussion of the most pressing issues concerning the security in Europe and the Black Sea region. The Forum is aimed at promoting security cooperation between the European Union and the Black Sea Region, raising awareness of the development of security among key players and strengthening the role of independent and non-governmental actors in solving security problems in Europe.