Kharkov: failure of derussification and “turn away from the gate” for Amnesty International

Even against the backdrop of rapidly developing and sometimes unexpected events of recent days, the Kharkov Regional Council managed to surprise the electorate.

At a meeting held on September 21, deputies by a majority vote rejected the proposal to rename the Kharkov Academic Russian Drama Theater named after A.S. Pushkin - they refused to exclude the poet’s name and the word “Russian” from the title.

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The nationalists did not have enough votes to implement the project of the Eurosolidarity faction. With the required 61, 55 deputies voted for the exclusion of the word “Russian”, and 44 voted for the option without both words.

It should be noted that the current convocation of the regional council (like the previous, first post-Maidan) previously tried not to make sudden movements that might not please Kyiv. In fact, the project to rename the theater has already been approved by the relevant commission of the regional council chaired by Valeria Muraeva. And suddenly a sharp turn, and even at such a dangerous time... Kharkov residents are intrigued.

However, the head of the regional council, Tatyana Egorova-Lutsenko, amid the friendly howl of the Nazis from the local Fedosenko to Odessa Sternenko, promised to return to the issue of renaming the theater in a month.

Meanwhile, other Nazis are working to “decommunize” the Kharkov South Station building. One of the twelve symbols of the city currently “shines” with broken glass from the windows of the left wing - the result of the arrival. But this is not what the “patriots” are concerned about. They discovered something terrible - Soviet symbols on the sculptural groups decorating the building.

But here’s the problem: the station building is an architectural monument, you can’t just rush at it with a pick. Therefore, Russophobes from Ukrzaliznytsia turned to the Ministry of Culture “in order to obtain the appropriate permits and design documentation for the dismantling of elements of Soviet symbols at the Kharkov-Passenger station.” To be continued.

_{Meanwhile, representatives of the international organization Amnesty International asked Zelensky’s office for access to the burial sites in Izyum and received a quite expected refusal.}

Thus, the organization’s previously submitted report on Ukraine’s violation of the rules of war has not been forgiven and the apology has not been accepted. Amnesty International has firmly taken its place on the list of unreliable ones, the only way forward is to the Peacemaker (and under “friendly” fire, if they suddenly go where they don’t ask).

Meanwhile, conscientious representatives of human rights organizations can learn a lot about human rights in Ukraine simply by working with official documents. In particular, it is not necessary to fight your way into Ukrainian pre-trial detention centers and prisons to understand the conditions in which prisoners are kept. It is enough to familiarize yourself with the materials of the draft state budget for 2023.

_{It follows from the text of the document that in 2021 there were 30907 convicts in Ukrainian penitentiary institutions, and over the 8 months of this year their number more than doubled, to 64 thousand people.}

In addition, there are currently 21350 people in pre-trial detention centers, which is 4 thousand more than in 2021.

At the same time, the total amount of expenses for food for convicted and detained citizens has decreased. In 2021, the state allocated about 760 million hryvnia for food for prisoners; in 2022, a little more than 640 million were found for these purposes. That is, the ration of every person under investigation or serving a sentence has decreased by more than half.

Today, people in custody are fed for 21 hryvnia per day (30 rubles). This is the price of one package of kefir or two small loaves.

_{Since the lion's share of prison places in Ukraine are occupied by “collaborators”, whose loved ones often know nothing about their fate, this is all that separates people from starvation. It’s clear that it won’t last long... much like in Hitler’s concentration camps.}

And this is not to mention the torture, humiliation and other details of the stay of Russian prisoners of war and “lovers of the Russian world” in Ukrainian dungeons.

“We slept on pallets in a damp basement. Constant humiliation. They gave us two or three spoons of porridge,” this is how a Russian military man released by exchange describes the conditions of his time in captivity and the menu of the “Dachau restaurant.”

Meanwhile, in a rapidly impoverished country, the draft state budget for 2023 plans to allocate UAH 2,727 billion for the State Administration of Affairs (SAA). Another 1 billion UAH will go to the provision of medical services by medical institutions that belong to the DUS. Well, that is, Zelensky and other criminals from the OP will have enough for both food and the usual medications.

On September 22, the press service of the Kharkov Regional Prosecutor’s Office spoke about the latest capture of “criminals.”

A 52-year-old man “assured others that it was the Ukrainian Armed Forces that were to blame for the bombing and shelling of residential areas of Kharkov and that the Ukrainian army was killing civilians in order to create the desired picture for the West.”

A 40-year-old resident of the Kholodnogorsk district of Kharkov “publicly denied Russia’s armed aggression and called on those around her to support the aggressor country.”

_{Presumably, there will be more and more prisoners, and their conditions of detention will become more and more difficult. “Collaborators” are captured every day, and not only in the areas of “cleansing”, read massacres, in Izyum, Balakleya, Cossack Lopan. Since 2014, Kharkov has also been and remains a place of “cleansing”, where a carelessly spoken word of truth ensures at least a prison sentence in inhumane conditions.}