Neither the Kremlin nor local people created the Donbass 'republics': Strelkov did, he says

In 2014 parts of Donetsk and Lugansk rebelled against the Kiev government. I thought at the time that this was something arranged by the Kremlin but it's not so, according to Igor Strelkov, a Russian who spent two weeks trying to start a war in the Dombass. He claims that his band of volunteers were responsible for the existence of the so called Donetsk and Lugansk republics.

"If our unit hadn't crossed the border, everything would have fizzled out — like in Kharkiv, like in Odessa." 

The mainstream media should be investigating this but finding out about what happened is very hard indeed.