Ukraine War Day #69: Normal Life (continued)

Dear Readers:

Continuing to review this piece, by reporters Darya Volkova and Alyona Zadorozhnaya. Where we left off: The newly (Russian)-appointed authorities in Kherson have accepted the responsibility of securing safe water supply to Crimea. That is a core component in their new job descriptions. According to Kirill Stremousov, Deputy Head of the new military-civilian administration, authorities are currently in the process of rounding up the usual suspects: local officials and radicals who abetted the Kiev regime in their criminal water blockade of the Crimean peninsula.

Kirill Stremousov

[yalensis: Here, by the way, is Stremousov’s “wanted poster” in the Ukrainian Mirotvorec site. For those not in the know: Mirotvorec (ironically named because the word means “Peacekeeper” in Russian and Ukrainian) is an organ of the Ukrainian Nazis and security services which publishes personal data about those deemed enemies of the state. Rumor has it that the site was created with the assistance of the American CIA. Copies of the “wanted” faces hang in Ukrainian post offices. Once targeted by this site, the person is considered fair game for assassins. Yesterday I read that the Ukrainian radicals even just put Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on this blacklist. So, if anything happens to poor old Viktor, you know whom to blame!]

When asked if Kherson would ever return to “Nazi Ukraine”, Stremousov vigorously shook his handsome head with its long locks of hair: “That’s impossible. The Kherson Oblast will start to see economic development. Kiev will no longer be able to force upon us their twisted Nazi politics, which is directed at destroying people and their property. [….] Currently the residents of the Kherson Oblast are being bombarded with Ukrainian propaganda; told that Kherson will be liberated any moment now. But that is disinformation.”

The main task now, according to Kirill, is economic reconstruction: “There is no planning in the works for any kind of referendum. The Ukrainian propagandists are publishing a lot of fakes about the alleged creation of a Kherson Peoples Republic, they’re just trying to scare the local population. [yalensis: a word of explanation: Many Ukrainians, when hearing the words “Peoples Republic” associate this term with war, the so-called “Anti-Terror” campaign, and bombardments and shelling of homes and cities. Understanding Stremousov literally, and this is what a lot of other sources have been writing, Kherson and Zaporozhie are slated to be incorporated directly into the Russian Federation, without any referendums or intermediate “Peoples Republics” stages. It sounds sort of cynical to some people, but Realpolitik to others.] The Kherson Oblast is going to develop economically and transform into a fruitful region, a place where there is no room at all for the ideology of Ukrainian Nazism.”

It goes without saying that those same Ukrainian Nationalists do not give up so easily, as they regard this territory as their rightful property. Which they deal with the same way they deal with all lost property: By shelling it and sending gifts of Tochka-U and Hurrican rockets, preferably into civilian areas, including apartment blocks, kindergartens and schools. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian anti-air has deflected 12 multiple-launch high-power rocket strikes so far, plus two Tochka-U ballistic missiles.

Larisa Shesler

As part of the new power system forming in Kherson, we are seeing the return of some experienced politicians from the Party of Regions, this is according to Larisa Shesler, who heads an NGO called the Union of Political Emigres and Political Prisoners. Larisa: “These people want to resurrect Kherson as the breadbasket, as the region of peaceful labor and construction. One important factor is [the level of] integration with Crimea. Before 2014 the bulk of vegetables and fruits from Kherson Oblast were shipped to Crimea. The renewal of these ties will be profitable, both for Kherson and for Crimea. […] The creation of the ruble zone is also completely understandable and logical. Right now it is absolutely necessary to wipe out the [Ukrainian] hryvna from every part of the economy and trade. Many bank accounts have been frozen [by the Ukrainians], the funds of the local Cossacks have been frozen, money from these accounts is not being accepted.”

Shesler goes on to explain how the Ukrainians basically did this to themselves, by freezing these accounts. When people were not allowed to deposit or withdraw their own money in Ukrainian hryvnas, then the regional economy was threatened, because the currency basically disappeared. Entire retail chains were threatened with collapse. Therefore, the authorities made the wise choice to switch over to the ruble as quickly as possible, and try to get everybody back to work.

Shesler: “I am personally opposed to intermediary stages, such as creating the Peoples Republics. I am pretty sure that the overwhelming majority of the population of the Kherson Oblast and in fact the entire Southwest of the Ukraine, would choose life in a strong and stable government such as Russia. But it is within the realm of possibility that some kind of intermediary stage will happen, all the same.”

[to be continued]

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