Fighting fascism from Ukraine’s Russian enclave

There was a sudden flurry of excitement in front of the imposing 19th century building they call Moscow House, in the centre of Sevastopol, home of the Russian Black Sea fleet. This is where Crimeans come to get Russian passports – something many of them want, especially now.

We rushed up and saw that a Russian armoured vehicle was manoeuvring on the square outside. People started to cheer and clap, and sent pictures of each other in front of it. An elderly woman with pink lipstick, wearing a fur coat, said: “This shows that we have protection from Russia.” Her husband, in a flat cap and heavy jacket, said: “We don’t want to be ruled by fascists in Kiev.”

Here in the Crimea, they have a very different view of the events of the last few months in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. They don’t see the Maidan supporters as noble revolutionaries fighting for democracy, but as stooges of the decadent European Union and fascists who have learnt nothing since the days of the Nazis.

60 per cent of the people in Sevastopol speak Russian, not Ukrainian, and look to Mother Russia as their homeland. They are nervous and frightened, not least because deputies in the Ukrainian parliament yesterday passed a bill demoting the Russian language from its previously official status. They fear that the new government will punish them for their loyalty to Russia.

Ukraine is a product of both geography and history. People in the east are close to Russia both physically and emotionally. It’s a world away from Lviv, where I was a few days back, up on the Polish border to the west. That’s the cradle of Ukrainian nationalism, where they have a vision of the future tying their country to the European Union and what they see as the forces of modernity.

Can these two visions of Ukraine find common ground? Few people I have spoken to at either end of the country are talking the language of compromise. But unless they do, Ukraine will be torn apart and never find the peace it needs if people are ever to have prosperity.

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