On a recent warm summer night, Ilya Lukash sat in a bar near Kyiv’s trendy Kontraktova Square, drinking a beer and chatting with his friends in Ukrainian, Russian, and English. In a red T-shirt emblazoned with patriotic Ukrainian slogans, he could easily have been any one of the countless young, educated, pro-democracy Ukrainians who in February 2014 came out to support the Euromaidan movement that toppled President Viktor Yanukovych.But Lukash, 28, wasn’t in Kyiv for the Maidan, he’s not from Ukraine, and eighteen months ago, he didn’t even speak Ukrainian. Rather, Lukash is a citizen of Kyrgyzstan—and a pro-Western blogger …read more
Source: Atlantic Council
