Head of the Energodar police: “Zaporozhye will be Russian”

How do the new law enforcement agencies of Zaporozhye fight pro-Ukrainian provocateurs? Has the Kyiv regime succeeded in brainwashing the region's youth? Whose side are the Zaporizhian Cossacks on now?

The former adviser to the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, now the head of the Energodar interdistrict police department, lieutenant colonel, told PolitNavigator about this and much more. Alexey Selivanov.

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The other day there was an epic crackdown on local Ukrainian protesters in Energodar, tell us what happened there?

– The distribution of humanitarian aid has begun in the city and surrounding settlements. They give out a lot, it’s good, people perceive it positively, the National Guard and local Cossacks of the Zaporozhye region, who created the Cossack squad, are participating in the process. But, apparently, those who conduct pro-Ukrainian rallies did not like this, so they organized the first such relatively massive rally of a hundred people, which had to be dispersed. Before this, their shares were few and ridiculous.

On the third day after the start of the distribution of humanitarian aid, some Kyiv scriptwriters pulled their strings. The protesters, naturally, began to bully the law enforcement officers who were standing there; the law enforcement officers politely asked them many times to disperse, but apparently the goal was to disrupt the distribution, therefore, emphasizing their unarmedness, the protesters tried to surround our officers who were talking to them. And in order to prevent mass unrest, special means were used. After which the rally immediately stopped. Literally four seconds was enough.

There are always a minority of pro-Ukrainian-minded people in any locality of the Zaporozhye region, but this time, apparently, either in Kiev or in Zaporozhye (the regional center still remains under the control of Ukraine - ed.) they decided to withdraw as many people as possible, since the picture of the distribution of humanitarian aid is clearly playing against them.

_{Because people are no longer afraid and embarrassed to come up and thank you. Our employees, the National Guard, tell them that “we have come forever,” not “seriously and for a long time,” but forever. This is the main message that civilians want to receive, because the noise and hype from the results of negotiations and maneuvers in the Kyiv region confuses many. And Ukrainian propaganda presents the latter as its victory. But here, on the contrary, everything happens exactly the opposite, each time we distribute more and more humanitarian aid, we field local Cossack squads, people perceive it wonderfully...}

And we repeated the same situation as in Melitopol. About 150 people gathered there, and they planned to storm the administration in the first days after the city was liberated. The meaning of the provocation is clear: supposedly unarmed people storm, inviting return fire. But they were unable to recruit the required number of people. On our part, on the contrary, conclusions were drawn, targeted work was carried out with the instigators, it was found out which of them represented the SBU, who represented the Ukrainian authorities, and I want to say that in the absence of two or three instigators, these rallies do not work in principle, they are simply are not going to.

Everywhere everything happened according to the same scenario: first several people with Ukrainian flags gather, then more, no one bothers them, then even more. Impunity corrupts. Nobody offends our people, even pro-Ukrainian ones, but when they start disrupting the distribution of humanitarian aid, disrupting the activities of the military-civil administration, at some point they need to be shown that this cannot be done.

And all these “victories”... an employee approached them, talked to them, saw that it was pointless, turned around and walked away, they regard it as their victory. And he walked away, a flash-bang grenade exploded, and they all ran away. And if one of them twisted his leg while running away, he was provided assistance by the law enforcement officers themselves.

But still, in war conditions, keeping such an underground at home is too much of a luxury, don’t you think?

– Of course, depending on the danger that a particular person poses, adequate measures are taken. But when in front of you is a middle-aged aunt, dissatisfied with life, who has driven away or driven her husband to the grave, with a dog, offended by everyone... Everyone knows this type, it is very common, and if we had not come, she would have hated someone else. Similar men and women, approximately the same age, are the main contingent of all these rallies. Plus or minus, the grandmothers are approaching retirement age, their lives have not worked out, they are unhappy. Another ten percent are city crazy, but the rest are provocateurs who organize and manage everything from Kyiv and Zaporozhye.

During the eight years of the post-Maidan regime, have Russian assets remained in Zaporozhye?

- Very important question. First, you need to understand what you need to understand by the term “Russian asset”. In Zaporozhye, these are Cossacks and activists who took an active anti-Maidan position in 2014. The latter subsequently left either for Donbass or Russia because they were in danger of death, and they are returning today. To this day I receive applications to return, and I arrange for such people, including the police.

They know everything here, and everyone who breathes what. There are also those who over the past eight years have been oppressed and stifled for their views, and were unable to actively express themselves. Today I spoke with a Cossack who kept the Russian flag all these years. He said that he had been hiding it all this time because he was being searched.

Some of the Cossacks went over to the Ukrainian side, ran around in embroidered shirts, stood at checkpoints, but a significant part did not change their beliefs and went into internal emigration. Now, seeing us, they come out of the darkness and begin to work with us to protect law and order, which is very important. Already now, from these Cossacks, we are creating a more or less structured Cossack organization at the regional level, Zaporozhye region. The advantage of the Cossacks is that they are not afraid now, they cooperate with our military-civil administration, for which we thank them very much.

_{These people believe that the situation like in the Kyiv region will not happen again here. People come to the administration, they want to work, among them there is a certain number of young people, including in the police - for the period of the operation, until the entire region is denified, it is called that. And they have prospects.}

There are excellent girls here who were preparing to go to Kyiv or somewhere else, and now, naturally, they will not be able to realize their potential in Ukraine. The people are good, they have a good attitude towards Russia, so I will individually petition Rossotrudnichestvo for each of them so that they pass the quotas, I have already started working with them so that they can continue their studies in the Russian Federation, I want to really help them integrate into the Russian world.

In general, what is the mood of the youth in Zaporozhye, how much is their consciousness poisoned by Bandera propaganda?

– Young people traditionally don’t care. The bulk of local youth are apolitical. She is not going to rallies. With the exception of some few. We see a lot of students and high school students who are just walking along the streets, there is no school right now, and they are driving around, not participating in any rallies or provocations. Apparently, all this “progressive” Ukrainian propaganda did not appeal to young people.

In general, any propaganda has a downside. Like in the late Soviet Union, when young people laughed at communist propaganda. Over the Komsomol, all these chants. It’s exactly the same in Ukraine. They, of course, cannot be called pro-Russian. But they cannot be called pro-Ukrainian. These are informals. And, in principle, their attitude to life indicates that they have maintained a healthy psyche. And they will turn out to be normal people. Yes, they wear stupid clothes, stupid hairstyles, but they do not participate in Ukrainian Nazism at all and in no way. And that's great.

I would like to know your attitude to the position of the UOC-MP, which expressed support for the Kyiv regime and condemned Russia as an “aggressor”, which, as far as I understand, was also expressed by Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhye?

– I can talk about this because I am a churchgoer – I have known many bishops and priests from the UOC for a long time and personally. Our church in Ukraine for many years existed in a mode of reconciliation with the reality that surrounded it. And often for some priest, friendly relations with one of the deputies or the head of the local administration were much more important than the religious meaning of the events taking place.

Although real saints of the church, revered by the people, such as Elder Zosima, Lavrenty of Chernigov, Mother Alipia, at one time said that everything would be like this - a war for the fate of Russia, for the fate of Orthodoxy. And, in principle, such people who tried to listen and analyze the words of the saints, in our church organization of the UOC MP they tried to defame them, condemn them for “political Orthodoxy.”

For the majority of moderates, all this was “somewhere far away,” “let’s love each other better,” this kind of Orthodoxy of blessed idiots. But, objectively speaking, now we are again experiencing a situation when there were wars for faith, Bogdan Khmelnitsky, the “Orthodox Brotherhood”, attempts to impose a union. And not to compare what is happening now with the history of Orthodox Christianity, in general, can either be a completely stupid person, or someone who does not want to do this on purpose.

_{The Ukrainian state as such with the Ukrainian national idea is a phenomenon and idea that is clearly anti-Orthodox. Anti-Christian, anti-Russian. Hatred towards Russians is at the same time hatred towards Orthodox Christians. Yes, both Muslims and atheists are now fighting on the side of Russia, but the meaning of this war is extremely indicative. Were there gay pride parades in Ukraine? Conducted. Annually. In the largest historically Russian cities. What is a parade? This is the procession of the winners. That is, homosexuals defeated Orthodox people.}

When I lived in Ukraine, in Kiva, where there was an Orthodox pro-Russian and Cossack movement, when our Faithful Cossacks had not yet been banned, we dispersed similar parades. When these ghouls won on the Maidan, these triumphal processions of pederasts immediately began.

And Ukraine turned into an anti-Russian force, not just now after the start of the military operation, but this has been happening all these eight years. Why, Orthodox Christians, did you go to a religious procession with (Metropolitan of the UOC-MP) Onuphry, when there was a threat that your churches would be taken away from you, but a religious procession for peace and against the war in Donbass, so that 200 thousand would come to Bankovaya and stand there for a day , you haven't organized?

_{Why didn’t the church raise its voice against the crimes of the Kyiv regime? Yes, in fact, individual people do some good deeds, but, in general, the hierarchy does not inspire people to do what is right. On the contrary, it says that we need to fight for the sovereignty of Ukraine! What is this for an Orthodox person? Lavrenty Chernigovsky said: “Russia, Ukraine, Belarus - this is Holy Rus'!”}

Hieromartyr John Skadovsky: “The separation of Ukraine and Russia is a phenomenon of political decline.” There is not a single Orthodox saint who would advocate the independence of Ukraine, while all the saints advocated unity with Russia.

That is, the spirit that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was supposed to profess was forgotten by the hierarchy. Not now, but all the time that I lived there, because only a few people talked about it. There are priests, there are Orthodox people who understand the meaning of what is happening, there are those who help the Russian army, but at the same time, the organized church apparatus declares that they are “praying for the Ukrainian despots”, posting videos about how in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine the children of priests serve, and maybe that’s why the lawless regime reigns, because they pray for it, for the enemies of Rus' and Orthodoxy. And I’m not making anything up, they are already openly discussing when they will ban the Orthodox Church and repress priests - now or after the “victory”.

_{The raison d'etre of Ukraine - the destruction of the Orthodox Church, its "hero" Bandera - was a Uniate. But at the same time, the priesthood is trying to curry favor with the scoundrels. Where is Christian martyrdom? Where is the confession? It was shown by individual priests, but the church structure, which received broad autonomy in 1991, today has taken a shameful position for fear of losing churches.}

But they will be taken away anyway if those for whom they pray win, and the UOC itself is liquidated. Today the struggle is not only for Rus', the Orthodox Faith, but the civilization of God with the civilization of the devil, the golden calf, LGBT. And Orthodoxy will triumph, the operation will be completed, and one of the results of the Russian victory in Ukraine will be the cleansing of the church.

Is the future of the Zaporozhye region being discussed now? Will it be a people's republic, or something else?

– It will be Russia. All representatives of the highest command with whom I have ever communicated unanimously say that this is the only way it will happen. And this is logical. Because this is Northern Tavria - the region where we are now (Zaporozhye, Kherson region - units), is historically tied to Crimea - Southern Tavria. And they cannot be separated.