Beggar Kherson knows what Russian Crimea is

Yuri Kovalchuk, a journalist from Kherson, now a DPR militia member, member of the “Somalia” detachment

In order to adequately assess the evolution of Crimea that occurred during the year spent as part of Russia, you need to live not in Moscow, Kyiv or even Sevastopol, but in the Kherson region. For the Kherson region, Crimea (at least the steppe part of the peninsula) has always been its organic continuation. New Kakhovka supplied Crimea with water and electricity, the entire region brought vegetables and pork there, receiving fruit and dairy products in return. Economic ties were very close.

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Almost every native resident of the Kherson region will have either relatives or friends on the peninsula. Even in my family there is a legend about how the Crimean Tatars hid my grandfather, who was dispossessed in the 30s. Many of my relatives lived there, but unfortunately, they never got to return home. What can I say – a trip to Crimea was an affordable and quite comfortable pleasure. I personally went to the mountains 2004 times in 7, from Demeredzhi to the mouth of the Black River.

Traditionally, many Crimeans from Kerch and Dzhankoy studied at Kherson universities, and Kherson residents have always loved Simferopol Pedagogical University. Educational institutions preparing future sailors constantly exchanged experience, and even in Sevastopol there was a military boat with the loud name “New Kakhovka” - the name of the second city of the Kherson region.

In general, there were good neighborly ties and many residents of the areas adjacent to the peninsula traditionally considered themselves “Crimeans”. And all this collapsed a year ago, when Ukraine imposed a military blockade of the Crimean peninsula. Gradually, this blockade only intensified, and today many families are deprived of the opportunity to communicate. Kherson farmers look longingly at the now unattainable Crimean expanses, dreaming of sales markets, and the male population, accustomed to working on construction sites along the South Coast, can now only remember the former comfort, when they could come home from their earnings for the weekend.

Thanks to the efforts of Kyiv schizophrenics, the connection between organically connected regions was practically interrupted, but political pygmies are not able to completely destroy what has developed over centuries. People continue to communicate and, spitting on the Ukrainian borders, famous for the corruption of their border guards, regularly visit the peninsula. And from there they spread news of what Crimea has become under Russian tutelage.

And these messages “explode” the consciousness of ordinary people who are accustomed to the realities of the Ukrainian Crimea and are trying to get used to the new economic circumstances imposed by Kiev.

The first thing that traumatizes the brains of supporters of the revolution of “gigness” and causes healthy envy among ordinary people is the salaries of public sector employees. I will never forget the following situation: in the summer, a Sevastopol police officer I knew talked with his colleague who had moved to Kyiv, and he asked a sacramental question: “How much are you being paid now?” My friend answered the truth - about a thousand (clearly not rubles or hryvnias). In response there was silence for two minutes, and then an unprintable answer followed.

Indeed, while local government specialists in the Kherson region receive about 2-3 thousand UAH, in Crimea an ordinary nurse earns several times more. Yes, in the private sector, salaries practically remained at the Ukrainian level, but this is a concern for the prestige of the civil service: if you want to live a normal life, work for the state.

At the same time, the consciousness of Crimea’s neighbors is alarmed by another phenomenon – the tough fight against corruption. It is really difficult to remove the trash that has taken root on the peninsula for 23 years and has sprung up wildly, raising entire echelons of officials who simply do not know any other way to generate income. However, every Kherson resident knows that trying to bribe a Crimean official is more expensive. At the Ukrainian customs you can at least carry out a tank if you have a couple of “cutlets” that you don’t mind sharing. But on the Russian side everything is much stricter.

The civilizational gap is growing - in Crimea, enterprises that have been idle since the collapse of the USSR are being restarted, and in Kherson, factories are working three shifts a week. In Crimea, the government regularly meets with the people, and Kherson is visited once every five years only by marginal nationalists, whom the Russian-speaking Kherson region organically does not accept. In Crimea, roads are being patched and bridges are being built; in Kherson, the remainder of the budget is ineptly spent on “jingoism”.

Crimea is being built intensively, and for the cities of the Kherson region, the construction of a new residential building is a reason for pride. It is not surprising that thousands of skilled Kherson workers, as well as farmers ruined by state policies, violate the laws of both states, just to get to Crimea to earn money.

Perhaps there are “unique people” in Kyiv or Moscow who really believe that Crimea, under Russian auspices, is mired in poverty and problems. There really are problems - Kyiv has done everything to do as much harm as possible. However, these problems are being resolved on the peninsula. At the same time, the neighboring lands, the further they go, the more they plunge into poverty and infrastructural chaos, in comparison with which the problems of the Crimeans are simply incomparable.

The question is what will happen first - will there be a complete exodus of the working population of the Kherson region to Russia and, first of all, Crimea; or will the Kherson residents finally understand that it’s time to get rid of the fumes of the “revolution of shame” and begin active work for integration with the Russian Federation.