Ukraine War Day #84: Infrastructure and War Communism

Dear Readers:

In the madness of war, here and there we have some indications of normal life returning. For me that’s always a “feel-good” type of story!

Electricity In Mariupol

For example, reporter Vera Basilaya writes that electricity has been restored to some residential flats in Mariupol. One is surprised that there are any blocks of flats left standing, but apparently there are, which is very good news. This concerns the 20th “micro-region” of Mariupol, where 10 multi-storey apartment buildings now have blessed electrons flowing from their wall sockets. As was announced by a man named Dmitry Khadzhinov, who holds the title of Deputy Head of Administration for Communal Services for the city of Mariupol: “The first flats receiving electricity are the multi-storey buildings on Bakhmutskaya Street, Prospekt of Builders, and Shevchenko Boulevard.”

On this google map I marked the locations of Bakhmtskaya Street and Shevchenko Boulevard

Work on the electrical grid is top priority and goes around the clock according to Mariupol officials. It’s going to be a long, hard slog to get everybody back up and running.

But progress is being made, according to this follow-up story from May 16 (reporter Elizaveta Bulkina). She reporters on more electrification, and also the restoration of water supply to buildings; even to those buildings which don’t exist any more. The reporter interviews a local resident who is very happy to get her electricity back: With only an electric hot-plate to cook on, she wasn’t able to cook her food. But now she can. So, things are looking up.

Central Market Back Up

Also in Mariupol, the Central Market is back in business, according to that same reporter, so I am guessing she is based there. This is an open-air market where people can buy any type of food products and also household goods.

If you need a pig’s head or cigarettes, you can find anything you need at the Central Market.

Three markets have opened so far: one called “Denis” in the “Vostochny” microregion; one called “Yumovila” in the 17th microregion; and “Echo-Market” on Pisareva Street #28. According to Evgenia Bodyagina, who is Deputy Head of Mariupol Administration, traders wishing to re-open their markets should apply right away to the city administration. They need to submit paperwork in order to receive permission to open. Hey, war is war, but the Russian bureaucracy never goes away!

Kherson Farmers Reassured

According to reporter Anton Nikitin, Kherson farmers are being reassured that they can just go nuts and sow their crops, without fear of grain requisitions. Any crops they grow can be safely sold to Russia. This according to Kirill Stremousov, a man we met in previous posts who is Deputy Head of the Kherson Oblast, now under Russian administration.

Kirill Stremousov

Kirill was worried when he heard news that farmers in the Gornostaevsky Region didn’t know whether they were supposed to start sowing or just store their seeds. It’s like they were waiting for instructions. So, he told them: Yes, please, sow away. Other people were scared because social media commenters were telling them the new government would requisition all their harvest. Other problems included: the previous harvest has not all been sold, some of it is waiting on the shelf. Also, fuels and lubricants are in short supply. Stremousov hopped onto his Telegram channel to reassure all these people: Anything they grow they can sell to Russia. Guaranteed. He also offered them loans (in rubles) if they need them to pay their seasonal workers and subcontractors. The government will also help them with fuel, if they need some. Stremousov plans to call a meeting where they can all get together and discuss these issues. And maybe even in person, and not over Zoom.

Although the Russian government has not yet formally decided this, it is pretty clear now that, eventually, Kherson will be reintegrated into Russia as a subject, directly. It will not go through a period of being a Peoples Republic. Which is appropriate, since the Kherson people, unlike the Donetsk people, are not commies. Far from it: They have already reintroduced the Russian Imperial herald, and their heroes are more like, Catherine the Great rather than Lenin. Donetsk on the other hand….

DPR To Nationalize Banks and Infrastructure

This story warms the cockles of lefties like myself who begrudge oligarchs of any ethnicity getting their greasy paws on valuable stuff that should belong to the people as a whole. According to reporter Valentina Grigorenko, the Donetsk Peoples Republic (DPR) are in the process of nationalizing banks and main infrastructure in the areas conquered by them. It is an ill-kept secret that many of the Donbass people, including their politicians and military leaders, are nostalgic for Soviet times. I mean, they even call themselves a “Peoples Republic” – duh! Plus, wherever they go they plant the red flag with the hammer and sickle. Sometimes (just to be polite) the Russian tricolor as well. But their true love is that old Soviet battle flag.

Nonetheless, one cannot necessarily claim that they are doing this for ideological reasons. Probably it’s more like war communism and the necessities of rebuilding. Either way, this is my main topic for today’s post, so let’s get into it.

The State Committee of Defense (Государственный комитет обороны – ГКО) of the DPR issued a regulation whereby all main objects of water supplies, aqueducts, railroad, and bank properties on areas liberated from the Ukraine, are to be nationalized.

According to one of the regulations, there is an immediate cessation of obligations (agreements) already in force regarding the use and property rights of juridical and physical individuals [in other words, actual people and also companies posing as people] who were registered [earlier] under Ukrainian law, and who were carrying out activities connected with the use of water objects, or with the realization or transportation and distribution of drinking water, or who also provided services in providing or draining water. These said objects are now turned over to the Governmental Unitary Enterprise [(Государственное унитарное предприятие – ГУП), which is pronounced “Goop” in Russian] called “Water of the Donbass”

This Goop will now start to provide water to the citizenry, at the charge of a tariff (tax). The nice thing, though, is that no compensation will be offered to the former owners – haha! [Don’t feel sorry for them, they were probably just greedy Ukrainian or Russian oligarchs.]

Similar regulations will affect the producers of electricity and heat; and also transportation of such; all of which groped their ways into private hands according to Ukrainian law. [yalensis: Reminder that Ukraine for 30 years, and especially after Maidan, was a model of sorts for “Chicago Economists” and rampant privatization of everything that wasn’t nailed down. It was a globalist boondoggle, in other words.]

Moving on to the railroad: That will be nationalized as well, and anybody who previously had any rights under Ukrainian law, is now s*it out of luck.

Moving along to the real cash cows: the banks: “Property rights of the Ukrainian banks, in regard to property on the liberated territory of the DPR, is ceased.” [In order words: if a bank took your grandma’s house because she missed a mortgage payment, it’s back to her!] Continuing: “All assets contained in bank safes, ATM’s, vaults, point of sale terminals, are now defined as the property of the Central Republican Bank. Any transactions completed after February 19 which have deleted property of Ukrainian banks, are now declared null and void.”

These regulations were signed by DPR head Denis Pushilin, and go into effect effective May 14, 2022.

The article ends with a snark directed at Ukrainian President Zelensky. Says that his Crimean home in the town of Livadia, near Yalta, has also been nationalized by the authorities in Crimea. So he can’t go back there for his summer vac. Crimean leader Sergei Aksyonov says they have also nationalized the property of other oligarchs and assorted Nazis and politicians on the peninsula.