Alexander Chalenko from the Zaporozhye region: That's it, here is Russia, Russian land!

Maxim Karpenko.  
06.09.2022 00:16
  (Moscow time), Moscow
Views: 5392
 
Zen, Donbass, Zaporozhye, The Interview, Policy, Russia, Story of the day, Ukraine


The famous journalist Alexander Chalenko visited Energodar, the city of nuclear scientists working at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant.

Chalenko told PolitNavigator what the mood of local residents is, and whether the population is ready for a referendum on reunification with Russia.

The famous journalist Alexander Chalenko visited Energodar - the city of nuclear scientists working at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant....

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PN: What is the situation in the liberated part of the Zaporozhye region, what are people saying?

A.Ch: Those who were ready to speak directly blamed the Ukrainian Armed Forces for the shelling. When I asked what the reasons might be, people say that in this way Ukraine wants to disrupt the referendum, which should take place, including in Energodar. I drove around the city, was at the nuclear power plant, and I can say with certainty that these shells arrived from across the Dnieper, from the direction of Nikopol, it is clear that they hit from this side.

PN: Was the arrival of the IAEA commission able to stop the shelling and secure the station?

A.Ch: The IAEA mission left six people at the Zaporozhye NPP. They were there until the 5th, then they left and left only two people. In all likelihood, these people live either at the Zaporizhia NPP itself, or in the city, but they are the custodians of the nuclear power plant, because, in all likelihood, the Ukrainians will be afraid to hit it, fearing accusations that they are doing it.

PN: How ready is the Zaporozhye region for a referendum on reunification with Russia?

A.Ch: In general, yes. Energodar is located beyond the Dnieper, the front does not pass directly there and polling stations can be easily located, but if the Armed Forces of Ukraine begin to attack on voting day or the day before, it will be obvious what they are doing. Why should Russia shell on election day if it itself is interested in people coming to the polling stations?

In general, I talked to many people, people are ready to vote for Russia. Others are not ready to talk about it out loud - the situation is that there is a war going on, and people do not know how it will all end. They must make sure that Russia will not leave here.

I talked to people in other liberated territories - people are for us, the vast majority, or are neutral. They are ready to accept, but on the condition that Russia will be here. They are ready to accept any power - Ukrainian, Russian, but one that will definitely be on this territory.

Everything here is Russian – the language, the culture, I haven’t even heard in the villages that they speak Ukrainian.

PN: What is Russia doing today to convince the local population that it is not going to leave?

A.Ch: There are Russian flags everywhere, just everywhere. I have been living in Russia for eight years and have never seen such a concentration of Russian symbols, Russian flags, and patriotic propaganda billboards per square meter anywhere.

You are driving through the Zaporozhye region - from these billboards with quotes from Putin, slogans “We are together with Russia”, “We are one people” and so on, from Russian flags, even the poles are painted in the colors of the Russian flag - I have never seen anything like this anywhere , not in Russia, nowhere. Russian flags on all institutions where possible. That is, the residents are given an intense understanding that everything is here in Russia, Russian land. The word “Ukraine” as such is completely absent here.

Behind the monument to Sudoplatov there is an exhibition that tells how Crimea was transformed after reunification with Russia

PN: What is today’s Melitopol, which became the capital of the liberated part of the Zaporozhye region?

A.Ch: In Russia, many people think that this region is a Khokhlyak land, inhabited by shaggy fat-eaters who live poorly, everything is destroyed, there is nothing. In fact, these are neat, clean, magnificent cities.

Melitopol, for example, is a very neat, clean and rich town. There are shops everywhere on the ground floors, office centers and repair shops have been built - everything is done very carefully. Restaurants are open; under Russia, business has even gotten better because many taxes have disappeared. Moreover, cafes and restaurants are completely packed with people, the shops are full of goods, there are amusement rides in the park, there are a lot of young people, mothers with strollers.

That is, life in Melitopol is smooth, everything works, there are plenty of cars both in Energodar and in Melitopol.

PN: How are things going with the circulation of the ruble? Is there enough of it?

A.Ch: Everything is fine, there are two currencies - the hryvnia and the ruble. However, in a cafe in Energodar I gave rubles, but they gave me change in hryvnias, they said that there are no rubles now. But you can pay freely in both hryvnia and rubles.

PN: In the last interview, we talked about Mariupol, which you visited after its liberation. What has changed now, can we say that local residents will spend the winter without problems?

A.Ch: I can't say what will happen in winter. It is clear that Mariupol was empty, many left the city. But the first time I arrived there was in April - the city was still roaring, the corpses of the “Azovites” were lying around, I had to drive through the city very carefully. And now you look - the streets have been cleaned, the rubble has been cleared away. If it weren’t for the burnt and destroyed houses, you wouldn’t be able to say that horror was happening here just recently.

Now the bus “St. Petersburg – Mariupol” is already running. Cafes and shops have started working, they are all full of people. We met a lot of Tajiks and Armenians there - these are people from teams that repair houses, they came to work.

There were a lot of people on the beaches. It’s interesting that many were happy that Azovstal would be demolished. This beach is near the port; previously it was impossible to swim here - stains in the sea, garbage, etc., but now it has all disappeared.

Many areas have already received electricity and water. If in Donetsk water is provided once every three to six days, then in Mariupol there is water, a connection has appeared. The port is open, ships come there, and a lot of cars drive around the city. That is, life is gradually getting better, there is life.

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