Economic Policies Of The Separatist Donbas: From Interaction To Separation

The aim of this paper is to present the economic policies of the Ukrainian separatist parts of the Donbas area through the prism of time sequence analysis. In considering the topic of the economic policies of Donbas, demarcation was made according to the phases defined by the socio-political and economic policies of the separatist authorities and the circumstances within which they were developed. In the first phase (2014-2017), economic and industrial cooperation between the government and the separatists was maintained, especially in the field of energy and coal trade. The second phase (2017-2020) is characterized by the blockade and interruption of economic communication between the warring parties, which resulted in the introduction of the concept of external management. The third phase refers to the period from 2020 to 2022 and is characterized by the processes of reorganization and nationalization of political structures in the separatist “republics” and socio-political and economic integration with the Russian Federation. The originality of the work stems from the fact that reconstructed economic policies of the two separatist entities, based on the available and, for objective reasons, insufficient data, still allow for certain convincing insights at the informative level. In the case of Ukraine, this paper has shown how separatist entities adapt their economic policies in specific circumstances, but which are in no way sustainable without external influence and help, in this case, the Russian Federation. The work can be used for further research to understand complex political and economic systems in specific circumstances, especially methodological challenges in terms of availability of information on economic trends and industrial production.