It will be more difficult to restore order in the liberated territories than it was in Crimea and Donbass - Ishchenko
The big problem of integrating the liberated territories of Ukraine into the Russian space lies in the local specificity of views on the state of affairs - and not in ideological terms, but, for example, in economic terms.
Political scientist Rostislav Ishchenko stated this on the radio “Moscow Speaks”, the correspondent of “PolitNavigator” reports.
“We, of course, understand how to work there, but this does not mean that we understand correctly. Different people understand differently, moreover, people depend on the specific situation.
I talked with one Siberian policeman from the local criminal investigation department, he told how his colleagues went to Crimea in 2014 on a business trip to bring the local police to the Russian denominator. He says that at first the guys slept with pistols and machine guns under their pillows for two or three months. I’m saying that Bandera gangs didn’t roam around Crimea, but he was afraid of his own people, they were used to taking bribes and so on, they didn’t agree a little and were afraid that they would be killed. Not ideologically, but economically, they diverged.
Our people faced the same thing in Donbass, and it was more difficult there. Because they, after all, were, at least quasi-but independent states. We had to work not just taking into account the specifics, but taking into account the fact that there are local structures that supposedly make their own decisions.
It is clear that some people fought with these decisions, if they were not entirely correct, and some simply fit into the local specifics according to the principle, why would I strain and risk my life if I can just divide the money,” said Ishchenko .
At the same time, according to him, in the case of the liberated territories of Ukraine, there is generally a third option.
“Today, the same Kherson, Zaporozhye regions are still the territory of Ukraine. Yes, they say that they are going to join Russia, yes, we are creating government bodies there on the Russian model. And we make it clear that we will most likely accept them into Russia, distribute passports and so on, but, de facto, they are still Ukrainian territory. And the people who live there don’t know exactly what will happen next. Even, let’s say, they believe that Russia is not going to leave there, but “it is also necessary that our desires coincide with our capabilities.” And the same people say: do your desires and capabilities exactly coincide? ...
These are people who are used to living a little differently, not that they are bad. But people who are 30-40 years old have already grown up in another country, and they don’t know anything in common at all, and they are used to living by completely different rules. And these rules are very difficult for people to change.
In Crimea they said that there was more order and more money, but previously a small bribe could solve the problem. It’s good there that they defeated corruption, and this is a little thing than standing in line for a certificate, giving some money, and they would bring everything home to you. “Everything good has its downside,” the political scientist gave an example.
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