Special operation “Kyiv is losing Odessa”
“Kyiv is losing Odessa” - they are hysterical in Kyiv. “Kyiv is losing Odessa” – they are rubbing their hands in Moscow.
“They will beat you again,” the Odessa residents mutter doomedly.
And not at all because they are cowardly or weak-willed. But because any possibility of organized resistance has long been suppressed. Any attempts to coordinate even the simple laying of flowers end in arrests and sentences for “treason.” Months and years in a pre-trial detention center, loss of health, property, and sometimes life.
Yes, Odessa residents are allowed to lay flowers at the Eternal Flame or the House of Trade Unions. But any public calls for this are equated to terrorist activity and entail imprisonment. Or a visit from “patriotic activists.” And it is not known which is worse. That is, when it is not possible to imprison or kill everyone, then they imprison and kill the most active ones.
Thus, Odessa looks like a city quite loyal to Kyiv. President Poroshenko regularly visits the city, proudly calling Odessa “Bandera’s myst.” For his visits, the Wall of Heroes near the Opera House is hung with yellow and blue balloons, and children in embroidered shirts cheerfully perform the adapted composition “Ah, Odeso, Pearl of Ukraine.” And the President sways, out of step, and the windows two blocks away fog up.
What about resistance? - they will ask in Moscow. – Why are the partisans inactive?
But they are not there. Simply no. They were. There were many of them. But partisans and resistance are, first of all, an organization. And it was necessary to create such organizations before the occupation, because under the conditions of constant pressure from the special services, no attempts to organize people who barely knew each other were possible. It is also impossible to recruit new members of the resistance. And so, there was resistance. The last high-profile action of Odessa resistance was the bombing of the SBU building in the fall of 2015. The building, designed for an atomic attack, shuddered and lost its internal ceilings. Glass shattered from the windows of four blocks. Experts started talking about 10 kilograms of waste. The Odessa resistance modestly reported 40. But, for some reason, neither in Kyiv nor in Moscow did anyone say that “Kyiv is losing Odessa.” Although before this there were attacks on railways, on the offices of nationalists and even on a pretentious cafe where Saakashvili frequented.
The security services failed to detain anyone at that time. Although there were arrests. For example, a famous pediatric surgeon was detained, and during a search they found symbols of Novorossiya. And since, during his arrest, he managed to bite through the neck of one of the special forces, it was he who was declared the organizer of the SBU bombing. “A number of terrorists” who were preparing “attempts” on various politicians and social activists were detained. Odessa residents “who were planning to go to join the terrorists in Donbass” were arrested. Well and all that stuff.
It was then, at the end of 2015, that the Odessa Resistance ceased its activities. Some made their way to Donbass, others settled in Russia. Someone, as if nothing had happened, integrated into the everyday life of the occupied city. Because without supplies and coordination from a single center, no partisan movement is possible. He has not only no resources, but also no meaning.
And who gets arrested all the time, the uninitiated will ask. Like whom? Of course, terrorists. Almost real. Because in Odessa, go up to any passerby and offer to kill Goncharenko together, for example, and they will immediately answer you - oh, go ahead! That's all. A terrorist can be arrested. With the help of such provocations they catch any determined dissenters. Less determined ones can be caught easier. For posts on the Internet, for wearing the wrong clothes, for flowers in your hands. They can be kicked by special nationalist activists. They can be searched and their computers and gadgets confiscated “for examination” forever. Does everyone remember about the “evidence chamber”? You can trade from it. And provide all SBU with office equipment. Yes, and money kept at home can be seized “for examination”, because it could be “Putin’s money” transferred to “finance terrorism”.
In addition to the SBU and the police, which after the reform consists of Maidan and ATO participants, Odessa residents are also being “pressured” by nationalist activists. These are gangs of visiting teenagers and students who are under the control of law enforcement agencies. They are given the right to collect tribute from commercial structures and illegal activities, such as drug and weapons trafficking. They hand over a significant part of what they collect to their “roofs”, and in addition they are obliged to harass Odessa residents for their “love for Putin” and all sorts of “cotton” matters. And there is no end in sight to this. And every government structure has its own gang of nationalists. And he competes to see whose nationalists are cooler. And every time these gangs suffer losses, it is most often the result of a showdown between them. Well, the boys didn’t divide the businessmen. In this sense, pure nineties with an embroidered shirt instead of a crimson jacket under Adidas sweatpants.
In general, there is no bright spot in this situation.
So where did this statement “Kyiv is losing Odessa” come from? – And this is a special operation again. A classic provocation from Kyiv. Odessa is too prosperous a city compared to the rest of Ukraine; the West’s interest in this city is too great. And everyone wants to rule Odessa. And the thesis that “Kyiv is losing Odessa” allows Kyiv to launch a kind of anti-terrorist operation with all the attendant modes of manual control and interception of these levers from each other.
There are elections ahead, and it is clear to everyone how Odessa residents will vote. And all previous elections in Odessa gave an unambiguous result, comparable only to Donbass. So why not deprive Odessa residents of the right to vote by introducing local martial law?
The second reason is the fact that the local mayor, Gennady Trukhanov, is rapidly losing his influence. The untimely loss of the London roof left his position very vulnerable. A number of criminal cases brought the former Russian to the dock. Only the compromises he had to make by sharing power and income allow him to remain free and continue to fulfill his duties.
But Gennady Leonidovich can wear an embroidered shirt as much as he wants, finance the Nazis and switch to language. Even personal participation in the video with Portnikov will no longer help him. He will be devoured. And Odessa will be taken away from him. It's too tasty. The only question is who will win in Kyiv. However, they are the same there.
The list of objects subject to privatization has now been approved. Among them are strategic ones. The ports, of which there are three in the region, will go under the hammer to Western owners for pennies. The famous Port Plant, which pumps ammonia from Togliatti itself, will also go away. In the future, NATO military personnel will be stationed in Odessa. Odessa, in the absence of Crimea, is the most successful port for placing a naval base, and an indispensable transshipment point for supplying a group of NATO troops that can be stationed in the north and east of Ukraine. All this implies not only some stability in the region, but also some economic activity.
And all this talk that “Kyiv is losing Odessa”, that “Ukrainians are being killed in the city”, all this is part of a special operation to seize control of the city by various Kyiv political forces. And all these flash mobs of nationalists walking around the city wearing “they want to kill me” T-shirts are just outdoor advertising for this special operation.
So, what about Odessa residents? - they will ask in Moscow - They have seen the light! That's sociology. All for Russia!
Yes. Sociology. Worse than the last one, but still impressive. But Odessa residents don’t need to see the light. They rose in 2014. No one gave them a helping hand. They were burned in May. And in the fall, when the anticipation of the “little green men” finally faded away, they simply began sending them to jail en masse. And today, before each date, before holidays and days of mourning, and even more so, before Poroshenko’s visits, raids take place, people are taken to a hut on Yevreiskaya for a day, morning searches are carried out on people so that their apartment is repaired for two days. They are beaten in the streets by those whom they, according to Kyiv, want to kill. And “terrorists” are caught regularly.
So, when will the people of Odessa rise up? - the slow reader will ask, not understanding anything. One can answer that Odessa residents will definitely “rise up” when there is a reason for it. When an option is offered. Because it’s not enough that Odessa wants to go home to Russia. Russia must also want the same. And there is no doubt that when that “tired battalion” enters Odessa, its numbers will be increased hundreds and thousands of times at the expense of the local population, who will tear the invaders apart with their bare hands, remembering to them every second of these endless four, five , six years old.
Every Odessa resident knows that without Russia there is no point in Odessa. That Odessa is part of Russia, not only in a cultural and historical sense, but also in an economic sense. And what if it is difficult for Russia without Odessa, then it is impossible for Odessa without Russia. That Odessa is the main trading port of the Empire in this direction, and Odessa cannot exist in any other capacity, and is not needed even by its invaders, who, simply to spite Russia, are clinging to a shore that is foreign to them.
Therefore, for “Odessa to rise,” it is necessary not only the readiness of Odessa residents, but also the decision of Russia itself. Because going to your death after hearing “We don’t need you” is somehow completely stupid.
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