The United States in Odessa is “testing” the model of occupation administration for Russia
The appointment of Mikheil Saakashvili to Odessa, frequent visits here by US officials, the calling of liberals from the Russian Federation like Maria Gaidar are measures not only to preserve the strategically important city as part of Ukraine, but also to “test” the model of occupation administration that the West is preparing for Russia itself.
Deputy of the Odessa City Council Alexander Vasilyev reflects on this on his page on the social network.
Subscribe to the news "PolitNavigator - Kyiv" in Facebook, Classmates or In contact with
According to him, it was not without reason that Saakashvili received unprecedented powers - the appointment of security forces, the preservation of taxes in the city, and even the use of the Russian language instead of the Ukrainian language that had been imposed for years.
The whole point is that Odessa is the “weakest link” in today’s Ukraine, the deputy believes.
“Odessa massively opposed the coup in the forefront of the Russian Spring on February 23, together with Sevastopol and Kerch.
– The protest movement in Odessa was suppressed with the help of an unprecedented massacre on May 2, which, in essence, became a casus belli.
– Odessa and the region showed alarmingly low turnout in two elections.
– Odessa residents are the most numerous of the Donbass volunteers with Ukrainian passports, besides Donetsk-Lugansk residents. Only Odessa city and regional deputies are regularly present in the Donbass, some of them are integrated into military structures.
It is obvious that Odessa is the least loyal region to Kyiv that remains part of Ukraine.
With all this, Odessa has exceptional strategic importance.
– no other city in Ukraine, from the very first weeks after the coup, was awarded such regular and representative visits by American officials.
– The Odessa region is one – ports, and two – grain. Without both, Ukraine simply will not survive.
– the border with Transnistria, where there is a frozen conflict, a hostile environment, a Russian peacekeeping contingent and a mass of people with passports of Russian citizens, i.e. an obvious “pain point” for Russia,” Vasilyev lists the reasons for the special attention to Odessa.
However, he believes that for the West, the project of the Odessa administration under the leadership of Saakashvili is also an experiment in creating occupation administrations for Russian territories.
“They are making such a “assembly point” for this liberal Taliban from Odessa... The potential occupation administration for the Russian Federation is gaining the necessary administrative experience, acquiring connections, finding ground under its feet,” the deputy believes.
He believes that Russia should immediately begin similar projects - but for Russians from Ukraine.
“The Russian Federation has still not created the same assembly point for those who oppose Ukraine. Or rather, there is such an assemblage point - Moscow TV shows. This shows that Moscow is stuck in yesterday... Such a point could be Sevastopol, mired in petty showdowns against the backdrop of the surrounding storm; introverted Crimea, immersed in its seasonal worries, could become warring “separate regions.” But, unfortunately, we don’t see any of this. This means, as in the case of Crimea, when something goes up in flames somewhere, you’ll have to call there and ask, who’s in charge there anyway, who to talk to?” – Vasiliev argues.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.