PREREQUISITES OF FORCED INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT OF THE POPULATION IN THE EAST OF UKRAINE

Abstract

The relevance of this study is associated with active migration processes, the forced nature of population migration in eastern Ukraine, under which, in a broad sense, we consider the territory of Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions. The purpose of the study is to search and establish the prerequisites that affect the formation of the general migration situation in Eastern Ukraine as a whole and forced migration, in particular. As a result of the military conflict in the Donbas, the occupation of part of the territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the intensification of military-political instability in eastern Ukraine, forced internal displacements arose and the category of internally displaced persons (IDPs) appeared. However, we understand that a military conflict is caused by a set of prerequisites that caused it to intensify during the transformation period, and, as a result, caused forced migration.

Among the preconditions that caused the military conflict, directly influenced or are affecting the forced internal displacement of the population in eastern Ukraine, we distinguish the following: settlement processes, security issues, political, economic, socio-demographic, ethnolinguistic, cultural and mental prerequisites. The combination of these prerequisites led to the formation of a special regional society in the Donbas, which was formed in the process of its long historical, cultural and socio-economic development. Close historical and trade and economic ties with the Russian Federation, the presence of a common border, massive voluntary and forced migrations of the Russian population during the Soviet Union into the region led to the dominance of the Russian-speaking population in the Donbas, who was wary of the Ukrainian authorities. During the revolutionary changes in Ukraine, all these features and factors became a source of deep conflict, which, with the support of local political elites, public organizations, and a mass information attack, turned into a protracted military conflict and caused a massive internal displacement of the population.