ABSTRACT
The motivations of my respondents to mobilize on the side of the Maidan and against the Russian Spring had one thing in common: active resistance to Russian influence. To define the nature and extent thereof has been an empirical challenge, even when reduced to the single case of Mariupol. When I asked activists for examples, most of them gave me general descriptions: Russians at protests, Russian kuratori (instructors), Russian agents, or Russian propaganda. The most informed about this period in Mariupol out of my respondents was Ivan because it was his job. Apart from consulting Ivan about this topic, I consulted military historians, officers who liberated and cleared areas occupied by the rebels, Ukrainian border guards, and a former Russian FSB agent. Their account helped me create a mosaic and a basic chronology of Russian operations in Mariupol in the context of the Donetsk region.
