ABSTRACT
After the Maidan victory in Kyiv, Mariupol Maidan mobilization changed. First, because when Yanukovych fled his post, Russia began the occupation of Crimea and President Putin announced that a popular referendum would be held to decide on formally incorporating Crimea into the Russian Federation. The second reason was the attack on the City Council and subsequent plea to Putin to send the army to rescue the Russian-speaking Donetsk region. Third, from the March 1 protest, groups of suspicious “foreigners with a Russian accent and watches set forward an hour” increased their presence in the city. For Maidanovtsy, these were red flags that pointed to Russian influence in Mariupol, and they feared that with Crimea occupied, Russia might attempt to create a sea-shore land corridor to connect it with Russia. Mariupol was in the way. As Marichka recalls,
There was no public organisation and security structure after the fall of Yanukovych, no leader behind whom we could stand, who would mobilize and unite us to protect ourselves. The new government was disorganised in who should lead the post-Party of Regions local administrations. The army was demobilised, and the police demoralised. I asked myself—what could become of Mariupol?
