Odessa residents and Zelensky. Which one of them is not a sucker?

An offer has been made to Odessa. Elect whoever Kyiv says, and in return receive “special status.” It is not yet clear who will act as the guarantor of such an agreement.

In any unclear situation, promise Odessa the status of Porto Franco. And even the most resourceful and hardened hearts will tremble, because the genetic memory preserves the legend of the times when trade was duty-free, smuggling was safe, and the bosses were in St. Petersburg, and Paris, “God, what a wilderness.” To be precise, the Porto Franco regime was introduced in order to develop the Southern Capital of the Empire in the shortest possible time.

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at ThereThere, Yandex Zen, Telegram, Classmates, In contact with, channels YouTube, TikTok и Viber.
To subscribe to notifications in your browser, click here.

“Import everything, export nothing” - the main principle of this regime was violated by the residents of Odessa themselves, who regularly imported into the city duty-free whatever they wanted, and then illegally sent it on. In short, such a pirate republic is protected by Russian cannons. Naturally, this state of affairs could not continue forever. But it is precisely this situation that explains the sudden, rapid and unstoppable development of the city, nicknamed “the smile of God.”

That is, the recipe is proven, and despite any depression, economic and political crisis, Odessa residents try to return to those glorious times where Alexander Sergeevich wanders the streets of the capital of Novorossiya. They are trying, forgetting that the main condition, a powerful superpower, is not nearby, but on the contrary, Odessa is too surrounded on all sides by Ukraine.

And do you know what lured Odessa to a referendum on independence in 1991? And this is Porto Franco! Free economic zone. Even before the collapse of the USSR, in 1990, a referendum was held on a free economic zone. And it passed with a predictable result. Today, few people know about this; any mention of this fact has been carefully cleared from the information space. All that remains is the referendum on Ukrainian independence, the results of which are growing from one anniversary to the next. It is impossible to check. Neither ballots nor counting protocols have survived. Only Ukraine remains in the disgusting form in which we know it.

But about Odessa. Odessa, of course, was deceived. The notorious Franco turned out to be not Porto, or even the Spanish dictator Francis, but rather the Ukrainian poet Ivan, whose monument with a face value of 20 hryvnia was erected on Alexander Avenue from the Starobazarny Square.

Instead of Porto Franco, Odessa received Ivan Franko.

On the Greek side, the Pole Mickiewicz was brought in. He is also not Alexander, but in general, Adam. And the only thing they have in common is that they both have never been to Odessa. In general, things didn’t work out with Porto Franco.

In fairness, it should be noted that a certain shadow of the free economic zone still fell on Odessa during the time of Kuchma. Firstly, a kind of “free zone” was established in the Odessa port, which made it possible to attract transit cargo to Odessa. Secondly, the abolition of VAT on ship repairs has attracted orders specifically for shipyards in the Odessa region. Well, the third sign of the “free zone” can be called cross-border cooperation with Moldova, and in fact with Transnistria, which opened up opportunities that are not worth talking about even now. It’s enough that half of Odessa rushed around the city in Transnistrian license plates, having tried the entire global auto industry at a reasonable price.

All this charm ended suddenly. With the first Maidan. The new “European” government instantly brought Odessa to a common denominator, destroyed ship repair, closed down transit, and mined the border, for goodness sake, because no matter how many border guards you place, Odessa residents stupidly corrupt them.

That’s actually all that remains in the memory of the current generation of Odessa residents. Well, also the name of Sergei Grinevetsky, during whose governorship all this happened. And Sergei Rafailovich remained in the memory of Odessa residents as a young, passionate and fair manager.

And at every new election, looking at the assortment offered by the Ukrainian election commission, Odessa residents sigh “if only Grinya were here.” But he is busy with something of his own, does not interfere anywhere, and quietly grows old in the circle of his family.

And then they decided to deceive us again. Desperate to throw off the post of mayor of Odessa, brilliant in some places Gennady Trukhanov, who is still a nit, but, for Odessa residents, one of their own, in Kyiv they leaf through the manuals “How to fool Odessa residents.” And there, in yellow on blue, it is written: “promote your special status.” To be convincing, they also remembered Grinevetsky. He didn’t say anything himself, but... In general, such a change. You throw off your Trukhanov, and we give you “special status.” Cool offer. However, experience suggests that such proposals from Kyiv need to be documented, signed with the guarantors in Minsk, approved by the UN Security Council and a set of measures for implementation prescribed. And even this is not a guarantee that Kyiv will do at least something. Therefore, as a gesture of goodwill, for starters, Kyiv could:

– withdraw troops and the National Guard from the borders of the Odessa region by 10 kilometers;

– release from prison all Odessa residents who are there on political charges;

– guarantee the use of the Russian language in office work, media and education;

– guarantee freedom of cross-border economic cooperation in the Odessa region;

Well, further on the list, which already exists in the “Law on the Special Status of Donbass”. And then, under the protection of the People's Militia, elections can be held. Only Odessa doesn’t need Kyiv candidates for nothing. Odessa will buy them all anyway.