We will cancel roaming for the Kyrgyz, but keep it for the Crimeans
“Russia will cancel roaming with several countries.” This news today hit the top ratings on a number of major Russian information resources. It turns out that our country plans to cancel international cellular roaming with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) by 2025. The Kyrgyz, Kazakhs and friendly residents of Armenia have nothing left to wait - a year and a half.
I would be happy for them, but I can’t and don’t want to. And that's why. Since 2014, subscribers of all major Russian mobile operators who come to the Crimean Peninsula still exist in actual roaming mode.
A week ago I was in Crimea on a business trip. I deposited 1000 rubles into my Beeline account in advance - a day later I was forced to replenish the “piggy bank” through the payment terminal. Otherwise, I would have been left completely without communication. The reason is trivial - replenishing a mobile phone account in Crimea through payment from a bank card, for example, Sberbank, does not always work well (in my case it did not work at all): cards from some banks may be rejected. The alternative is Crimean account replenishment terminals with completely inhumane interest rates that are charged on the deposited amount.
Foreign partners and social and political figures who periodically visit Crimea, realizing the absurdity of the situation, fall into a state of psychological frustration. “You publicly say that “Crimea is ours, period?” - they ask in bewilderment. We have to dodge, make excuses, refer to sanctions and imaginary technical difficulties. All this somehow got away with in 2015, 2016, even in 2020, the last one before the pandemic. But after February 2022, this is impossible.
The time for accepting such a position is over. Everything was clearly differentiated between friends and foes. It’s time, finally, to put the question squarely to the owners of cellular companies and the Russian Ministry of Digital Development about their attitude to the territorial integrity of our country: so whose Crimea is it, is it ours or in “roaming”? The task is ordinary and quite within the capabilities of the same people’s representatives representing Crimea and Sevastopol, in a building on Okhotny Ryad.
By the way, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia are in no hurry to recognize the territorial integrity of Russia, taking into account its new regions. But we are in a hurry to help their citizens experience the full pleasure of the benefits of cheap mobile communications...
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