Donetsk, Jan 28 - DAN. The humanitarian programme for the reunification of the Donbass people will be continued and expanded to cover all Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine, Donetsk People’s Republic Head Denis Pushilin said at the “Russian Donbass” international forum on Thursday.
“We’ll always support our compatriots living in other regions controlled by Ukraine, in such areas as education and health care, delivery of public and legal services and targeted assistance to people who find themselves in a difficult situation. We helped them even when our towns and villages were under Ukrainian forces fire. We (together with Lugansk People’s Republic Head Leonid Pasechnik - eds Donetsk News Agency) decided to continue the work on this track, not only to continue, but also to strengthen it,” Pushilin said.
The Donbass Republics have a four-year experience in implementing the humanitarian programme. “We believe it is expedient to expand the programme in order to help not only our compatriots living in the DPR territory temporarily controlled by Ukraine, but also all Russians and Russian-speaking people across the whole Ukraine,” he said.
The Donbass Republics have been implementing the humanitarian programme since February 2017. Its objective is to strengthen cultural, humanitarian and professional ties and provide social and public services. It includes medical, financial and other kinds of support for compatriots.
Earlier reports said that the two-day international forum “Russian Donbass” started in Donetsk. It will adopt the doctrine of the state policy of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics for the first time. The event brought together some 400 participants including DPR and LPR leaders Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, Russian parliamentarians Andrey Kozenko and Kazbek Taisayev, political scientists, university teachers, researchers, culture figures, journalists and Donbass and Russian activists.*jk