By declaring Russia an enemy, Ukraine will receive a stab in the back from the West
Vasily Muravitsky, editor of the newspaper “New Wave”
Western Ukraine is often presented in the media space as one continuous pro-Bandera and anti-Russian region. But that's not true. There are two regions - Transcarpathia and Bukovina, where the mood is sharply different from Galicia.
Transcarpathia calmly speaks five languages in everyday life: Russian, a dialect of Ukrainian, Hungarian, Slovak, partially Polish and Romanian. In Bukovina - in the Chernivtsi region - they speak Russian, Ukrainian, Romanian, Moldavian and others. In villages, Russian and Moldavian are sometimes spoken more often than Ukrainian.
Both Chernivtsi and Uzhgorod have had a strong presence of foreign capital for a decade and a half. The main remaining production facilities in Transcarpathia were bought up by Hungarians, Hungarian banks and investment funds operate there; Romanians and Germans feel good in Bukovina.
For example, Germany allocates annual loans to maintain the infrastructure of Chernivtsi. Perhaps the election of ethnic German Johannis Klaus to the post of President of Romania will also affect the situation.
The standard of living in both the Chernivtsi and Transcarpathian regions is not high. Thus, according to the latest estimates by government statistics agencies, residents of the region spend more than 51% of family income on food, and more than a third on utilities. The majority of the region's gross product comes from agriculture and the use of natural resources.
Both Bukovina and Transcarpathia formed autonomous small closed production conglomerates with neighboring Romania and Hungary.
Transcarpathia exports wood to the West. Due to uncontrolled deforestation, the natural balance has been disrupted; in recent years, tragedies with avalanches and mudflows have begun to occur in mountainous areas.
The export of wood also brings income to Bukovina. Moreover, in 2014 it exported more than it imported. In addition to timber, raw materials for textiles were sold abroad, and finished fabrics, clothing and wood products were imported to Bukovina.
And here's what's interesting. The second country in terms of foreign trade volume after Romania for the Chernivtsi region is Russia.
Due to the disruption of trade with Russia, Bukovina's agriculture suffered greatly. Bukovina supplied apples, greenhouse flowers and vegetables to Russia. Entire districts of the Chernivtsi region, Khotyn, Sokiryansky, part of Novoseletsky have almost completely stopped supplying grown fruits to the Russian Federation, which threatens with dire consequences, since competition in the domestic market (and even more so in Europe!) is very strong. Exports to Belarus also stopped, since it is bound by a union treaty with Russia.
Chernivtsi also specialized in supplying exclusive handmade wedding dresses for Moscow residents. This business is now failing.
It’s not only Crimea that has experienced a decline in tourists this year. The Transcarpathian region and the entire western Ukraine experienced this. Now it is not beneficial to mention in Kyiv that the resorts of Galicia and Transcarpathia had a large flow of tourists from Russia, which has completely stopped. The decline in tourism has brought losses to the region.
All these facts of economic life cannot but strengthen centrifugal tendencies. They were recorded long before the Euromaidan. So, back in 2010, the current governor of the Lugansk region, Gennady Moskal (a native of Bukovina), stated that Romania was actively issuing passports in the region. Similar processes are taking place in Transcarpathia, where there are already entire villages that speak exclusively Hungarian.
And then it will be even more interesting. Moldova actually signed a complete and unconditional economic surrender by concluding an association with the EU. The market of Moldova is over, and soon the end of statehood will come - absorption by Romania.
It’s not hard to guess what strengthening Bucharest’s position will bring. Victor Ponta, the current prime minister, has repeatedly stated that the loss of Bessarabia and Bukovina in 1940 is a historical injustice.
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