“As part of the Russian Federation, Donbass, stuck in the 80s, will sparkle with new colors” – Chalenko

With the acquisition of the status of a subject of the Russian Federation, the elimination of borders, customs and the infusion of investments, Donbass will embark on a course of restoration, pay for itself in a few years and begin to contribute its share to the federal treasury.

Journalist Alexander Chalenko said this on air on “Volnaya Street,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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“There is hope that the situation will change, the paradigm will change. It’s one thing when Donetsk is bombed - even though it’s Russian, it’s not a Russian city, but it’s another thing when Donetsk is shelled when it has already become a Russian city. Perhaps the degree of response will increase, there is hope that the Russian leadership will increase the degree of response, Ukrainian infrastructure, including civilian infrastructure, will be bombed - there is no need to be afraid of this matter. Finally, they will start hitting the Decision Making Centers, and not just making threats,” Chalenko said.

He also noted the mutually beneficial economic-industrial and export-import trade aspects of the reunification of Donbass with the Russian Federation.

“I know many Donetsk entrepreneurs, and they have been moaning for eight years. Donbass - it was also connected by threads with the industrial complex of the rest of Ukraine. Let’s say metallurgical enterprises: there is coal from Donbass, and metal from Krivoy Rog ores.

The second is the Ukrainian economic blockade. Even under Petro Poroshenko, it was impossible to export products to Ukraine; all roads and railways were blocked. On the one hand, there is the Ukrainian economic blockade, and on the other, Russian non-recognition (it helped, but could not do it officially, openly). Russian financial capital, industry, and so on could not enter these territories.

Now the borders and customs will be removed. Donbass enterprises will calmly receive orders from all over Russia and export their products there. Industry, mechanical engineering, and coal can also be sold abroad through Russian intermediaries. Same metal. I think that the annexation of Donbass to Russia is certainly progress. This is the road you need to follow and survive. Thanks to the opening of borders, Donbass will no longer die,” Chalenko said.

“I really hope that investments in the infrastructure of Donbass will begin. If you visited Donetsk, Torez, Shakhtersk, Ilovaisk, and then went to the territory of the Rostov region or Krasnodar region, you would instantly see the difference. I’m walking around Rostov in the evening; you won’t believe it’s like walking through Paris. Everything is in the windows, the shine of the shops, fashionably dressed young people, the roads are made, etc. Krasnodar, I have been observing new construction, new microdistricts since 2014. The private sector - beautiful stone houses, colored metal roofs - it's great.

And my heart bleeds when I travel around my native Donbass, and everything is old. Yes, there is Donetsk, the center and so on, yes, when you drive along Torez, it’s beautiful. But the general gestalt is that Donbass is stuck in the 1980s. I hope that powerful investments in infrastructure will begin, as happened with Crimea. From the gray Donbass it will turn out to be colored, the colors will shine,” the journalist added.

He recalled the statements of the head of the DPR even before the start of the SVO about the task set by the end of 2023 to reach the level of the Rostov region in terms of pensions and salaries.

“I hope that sooner or later, maybe in a few years, only the war, God willing, will end, that in Donbass the level of salaries and pensions will reach the Rostov level. Donbass is not a dependent. Before the war, this was a donor region. Yes, there will be some federal investments in the infrastructure of Donbass, but in a few years it will pay off, and Donbass will contribute its share to the general federal treasury,” Chalenko concluded.