An Alive Faith Media interview conducted by Alena Balashova and Sergey Kireev
Russia is the very center of the Ukrainian crisis. But not because Russian tanks and guns are physically present on Ukrainian territory as some provocateurs try to say, but because now in this difficult time Russia has accepted more than one million [sic] Ukrainian refugees who had to leave their homeland because of the civil war there. In order to understand the roots of the conflict, to hear firsthand testimony about refugees’ uneasy life, and to find out how faith in God helps in overcoming the hardships of war, we interviewed Elena Kurinnaya, a former parishioner of the Good News Church in Slavyansk who is now attending an evangelical church in Yaroslavl.
AF Media: Why did you have to leave your homeland and move to Russia?
Elena: In November 2013 in Ukraine there was a revolution that most people from southeast Ukraine did not support. When in spring 2014 things calmed down a little bit the new authorities said that people in the Donbas [the Donets Basin] would have to pay for the restoration of Kyiv. Naturally, everybody was disturbed and asked: On what grounds? We were not there on the Maidan [Square], and we did not destroy anything there. Why should we pay from our salaries for it? We refused to pay.
Generally, during the 20 years before the Donbas separation [of 2014] we were oppressed; we were forced to accept Ukrainian as the only official language, even though Donbas citizens do not know it since we are all Russian. It was one of the reasons why our men, including my son, rebelled and started to defend our Donbas. Then we had a referendum that was not accepted by the new Ukrainian authorities, and then the siege started. Hostilities broke out in April near Kramatorsk, and in May bombs started falling, not only in Kramatorsk, but also where I lived. Men started organizing the evacuation of their families from the war zone. We had arrangements to have all families of volunteers moved to Crimea.
By that time the Ukrainian Army took Mount Karachun with a population of about 300. Soldiers in this army did not know where they happened to be, and they did not know they would have to shoot civilians. These honest guys refused to follow this wrongful order and were executed, and then their bodies were cut open and their organs were taken. It was creepy. There was a terrible stench and corpses were everywhere. The Ukrainian Army also often wounded civilians. Body parts, arms and legs, were all over the city. Everybody understood that if the Ukrainian Army entered our cities, the families of volunteers and those who did not agree with the Kyiv regime would be in big trouble.
AF Media: When did you leave Donbas?
Elena: We left Slavyansk for Crimea on May 22. It was very dangerous, so when we rode on the bus we were covered by mattresses. One bus with refugees that was in front of us was completely destroyed with all the people who were inside. [Russian] emergency ministry planes took us from Crimea to Yaroslavl where since June 26 I live now with my pregnant daughter. We have filed our documents and applied for a temporary residence permit.
AF Media: How were you welcomed in Russia?
Elena: People accepted us as refugees and were very kind and hospitable. They helped with everything they could and even more. To be honest, I did not expect it. In two hours after we arrived trucks with food, clothing, and shoes arrived. This help was very much needed because we could not take much luggage with us. We received help in Russia not only from sympathizing citizens but also from different organizations that provided us with humanitarian aid and financial help, rented an apartment for us, and helped us with documents and other necessities. AF Media: How do you feel about the new Ukrainian authorities? Elena: What kind of authority is it if it shoots its own citizens? This is not an authority. This is a bunch of pretenders. Ukrainian authorities now are oligarchs who sold themselves to America and do away with their own people. Even Nazis did not do it. Thanks to Putin, of course, he supports Ukrainian people a lot. Russia accepted and helped many refugees.
AF Media: What is the spiritual situation in Donbas churches?
Elena: Churches reacted in very different ways to the Maidan Revolution. It was shocking to see how believers of some churches in Donbas went to the squares, coloring themselves with blue and yellow paint and yelling “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!” It was strange to me. Lately I was attending the Good News Church of Pastor Sergey Demidovich. This church fully supported Ukrainian authorities. I was shocked. I believe that the church should not be involved in politics.
Before I left [Slavyansk] I was in a home Bible study, and I prayed and asked God to reason with the American government and Obama. My prayer was very abruptly cut off. The Bible study leader not only angrily forbade my prayer but also said that he rejected my prayer. After that, I said that I would never again come to this church.
AF Media: During war people experience terrible things—suffering, grief, violence, devastation. Tell us how your faith in God helped you to overcome the hardships of war.
Elena: Without God I could not have survived. Half a year before the violence all started, I had a prayer in my heart: “God, make me strong!” I did not know back then why I had this petition in my heart. Today, with my son missing in action for three months, I understand why God urged me to pray for strength. I do not know anything about the fate of my son. Only because of God do I have the strength to believe and to live.
Editor’s Note: The present article is published with permission from “Pobeg iz Slavyanska v Yaroslavl’ ili bezhenka po-blagodati,” Zhivaya Vera Media [Alive Faith Media], AF Media; http://afmedia.ru/zhizncerkvi/pobeg-iz-slavyanska-v-yaroslavl-ili/bezhenkapo-blagodati; 5 September 2014. Extensive readers’ responses attack and defend the accuracy of this interview. Translated by Ekaterina Vatulya.