From Igor Rotar (a Russian journalist)
Subject: From Igor Rotar (a Russian journalist)
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2015 13:46:00 -0700
From: Igor Rotar <igorotar@gmail.com>
Dear colleagues,
My name is Igor Rotar. I am a veteran journalist and researcher who recently received a “green card” in the USA and currently lives in San Diego. I am the author of three books about ethnic conflicts in the Soviet Union, and wrote an enormous number of articles in leading Russian and Western newspapers and journals. Now, I am also regularly contributing to the Jamestown Foundation (USA).
My major specialization concerns the ethnic and religious conflicts in the former Soviet Union and as a reporter for Nezavisimaya Gazeta and Izvestia, I repeatedly visited all the hot spots of the former Soviet Union.
Now, I have just come back from a three month trip in Ukraine where I visited following parts of this country.
1. The area of the so called “antiterrorist operation” in East Ukraine. I was exploring the situation in the both side of the front line: that controlled by the Ukraine government and separatist regions. I interviewed a great many of different people: Ukrainian soldiers and pro-Russian separatist militants and Cossacks; common residents and refuges; the leaders of the separatist government, militant units, and local governments in both sides, the leaders of different non-government organizations; etc., etc. I visited specially the towns of Slaviansk and Kramatorsk where the separatist movement, organized by the Russian colonel Igor Strelkov(Girkin), had started.
2. I also visited the Kharkov province -a mostly Russian-speaking region controlled by Kiev’s government, that may be considered a potential separatist enclave. This visit also included many interviews with people of different status and political orientation.
3. The same concerns the visit to Lvov, the «capital» of West Ukraine and the stronghold of the Ukrainian nationalist movement.
So, I believe I got a comprehensive picture of what is going on in different parts of country. During my trip to Ukraine, I published about thirty articles in the Russian agency Rosbalt (rosbalt.ru/search/?q=%D0%98%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%8C%20%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%8C&sort=date&offset=0) and a few in the Jamestown foundation(http://www.jamestown.org/articles-by-author/?no_cache=1&tx_cablanttnewsstaffrelation_pi1[author]=111)
At present, I am looking for universities and foundations that can be interested in my talks or lectures regarding the situation in Ukraine. I am also ready to consider suggestions regarding writing articles or providing research on the Ukraine conflict, or other types of collaboration.
My e-mail address is igorotar@gmail.com.
Igor Rotar