Vladimir Rogov: Even a small farm on Hoverla cannot be left without denazification

For the first time in eight years, Victory Day was celebrated in the territories of the Zaporozhye region occupied by the Russian army. However, there are also problems - the promised Russian financial aid has not reached the residents, people are running out of cash hryvnias, and rubles are in short supply, there are difficulties with selling agricultural products to Crimea.

Vladimir Rogov, a representative of the Main Council of the Military-Civil Administration of the Zaporozhye Region, talks about the prospects of the region in an interview with PolitNavigator.

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V.R: Unconditionally, May 9th is the main holiday for the residents of Melitopol. According to our estimates, about ten percent of the city’s population took part in the “Immortal Regiment” and the parade. This is a lot, considering that everything took place under the conditions of a special military operation and that there were many threats from our opponents. Thank God everything went smoothly. With indescribable joy, for the first time in eight years, people were able to freely and wholeheartedly celebrate their most favorite holiday - Victory Day.

PN: Can we say that today liberated Melitopol is the capital of the Zaporozhye region?

V.R: It is clear that Zaporozhye, the city itself, in terms of population, is like half of the entire region. The total population in the liberated territory of the Zaporozhye region is currently under a million people. It is clear that someone left, but many came from the same Mariupol, from Zaporozhye. Migration is very strong in all directions - supporters of Zelensky or pro-American views have left for territory controlled by the Ukrainian regime.

We cannot say that there is XNUMX% support, and everyone was just waiting for us - no, of course, there are a lot of people who are integrated into that vertical. Melitopol today is the de facto capital of the liberated territories of the Zaporozhye region.

PN: What future awaits liberated Zaporozhye?

V.R: In general, I would not mind if Zaporozhye became the capital - it does not matter what it will be called: the Southwestern Federal District or there will be some kind of transition period. From the point of view of logistics and economic processes, Zaporozhye is definitely the most convenient city for becoming the capital. This is the bank of the Dnieper, and the proximity of a lot of other large cities.

PN: Both tricolors and red banners are flying over the Zaporozhye region today - is there any understanding of which flag will be installed in the end?

V.R: Of course, the Zaporozhye region will only be under the tricolor, because here the choice of people is clearly clear. We are talking about a flag that is native and understandable to us, under which these lands historically lived.

Let me remind you that this is historical Novorossiya, these cities were founded precisely during the times of the Russian Empire. These are originally Russian cities, so we are not occupiers, we are returning our native land.

From the moment Ukraine as a state was destroyed - shot on the Maidan and cremated in Odessa, we fought not with Ukraine, but with those who killed it. Therefore, the state flag will be the flag of Russia, and the appearance of the same Victory Banner is logical - firstly, in connection with Victory Day, and secondly, as a counteraction to the Nazi narrative and agenda that our enemies are pumping.

PN: Is Crimea an example for former Ukrainian territories?

V.R: I really hope that we will go at the same speed as Crimea, simply because everything was peaceful in Crimea. In our country, unfortunately, over eight years everything has become much worse in terms of total control and involvement of people in the Russophobic anti-human agenda. Here, too, everything has to be decided on the fly, only for now without the Russian state apparatus. Still, then, in 14, a lot of specialists came to Crimea who began to help implement legislation, restart processes, and there were colossal investments from the greater Russia. We don’t have anything like this yet, we can only dream about it.

PN: How is integration going - is the transition to the ruble and economic cooperation with Russia already underway?

V.R: Unfortunately, we never received the payments that should have been made - ten thousand rubles to those in need - they were lost on the way somewhere between Moscow and Melitopol, and are still coming to us, we are waiting.

Now the first bank is being launched, the process of preparing branches is underway. Then there will already be a full-fledged banking system, even if it consists of one bank for now, but nevertheless it will already be working. It will immediately be much easier in terms of calculations.

Yes, you can already pay in rubles in supermarkets, but there is a catastrophic shortage of it, just like hryvnia. Today we live practically under communism, without money. They simply don't exist physically.

It is impossible by definition to pull out such a large population through humanitarian aid - it is necessary for people to work and earn money. They can do this only if Russian borders are open.

Unfortunately, the border is largely sealed. If people do not travel in our organized caravans, then often they may not export their products. These are vegetables, herbs - everything that is grown on the ground.

We know very well that this particular liberated part of the Zaporozhye region is agricultural, because the industrial one is Zaporozhye and the same Berdyansk. When people cannot sell their “green flowers,” naturally, this is a big problem for them, one might say, an economic tragedy.

We need to resolve the issue as quickly as possible so that there are fewer complaints against people selling these products, at least to Crimea. Even with Crimean prices, it will be three to four times cheaper.

PN: In the Kherson region they say that those who wish to receive Russian passports are not far off. How are you doing in this area?

V.R: While the mechanism itself has not been worked out, no matter what anyone says. But in our registry office, people are already receiving Russian-style marriage certificates. Now we are moving closer to the issue of obtaining a Russian birth certificate. Immediately after the start of the special military operation, the Kiev regime blocked the possibility of issuing birth certificates and registering newborns. The only thing the Zelensky regime left behind was a death certificate. That is, Kyiv offers only one thing - death, and Moscow - life.

PN: It became known that former Verkhovna Rada deputy Evgeniy Balitsky became the head of the Zaporozhye military administration. Doesn’t the Ukrainian “trail” hinder the leadership of such a region?

V.R: This man was consistent in his views. Being both a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada and the regional council, he clearly expressed his attitude to what was happening - both regarding Victory Day and on other issues. It may seem to some that he did little, but I don’t remember anyone doing more under the conditions in which this happened. Still, there were punishments, repressions, pressure from the regime. I think Balitsky is in the right place. Time will show.

PN: From the outside it seems that the pace of the special operation has slowed down. Do you observe anything like this and, if so, why does it happen?

V.R: If we talk about my desires, then, of course, any rapid progress for me will be slow. I would like the entire post-Soviet space to be demilitarized and denazified, and in my native Zaporozhye everything would be peaceful and calm...

Yes, the offensive has slowed down, but this is also due to the fact that there is a gentle regime, no one completely demolishes cities, as, for example, the Americans do, when there is first total bombing, and then the entrance to the city. Here a special operation is underway, a careful surgical intervention to cut out, first of all, the cancerous tumor of Nazism and all those barmalei who are in the occupied territories.

We understand perfectly well that we are not at war with Ukraine, but with external forces that have occupied the post-Ukrainian space. This is why citizens of the USA, Britain, Canada, Holland, Italy, Spain, and Poland are dying in Zaporozhye. You can list it further, there are probably already two dozen states whose citizens died in Zaporozhye itself and are dying on the front line.

For example, during the attack on the dispensary of the Dneprospetsstal plant, 72 foreign mercenaries were killed. In at least three more Zaporizhzhya hospitals there are about three dozen people with a military bearing who communicate with doctors exclusively in English.

The fact that the enemy’s losses are high is evidenced by the presence of more than nine hundred bodies in Zaporozhye morgues, which even include refrigerators and refrigeration units in which food was previously stored.

I’ll tell you more - there are now one thousand two hundred so-called “barmalei” in Zaporozhye. These are militants from the Middle East, representatives of terrorist organizations. They were selected between December last year and February this year by representatives of the SBU with the help and support of representatives of the Turkish intelligence service MIT.

PN: Where do you think the special operation should end?

V.R: Looking at what is happening in Latvia and Lithuania, willy-nilly you think that it is already necessary to carry it out there too, when bulldozers throw down flowers laid by ordinary residents of Riga, for example, or when official Vilnius makes a decision that Russia is terrorist state...

If we talk specifically about this special military operation, then the entire territory of the post-Ukrainian space must be demilitarized and denazified. If we leave even a small farm somewhere on Hoverla, then from this farm this infection will come out again and again hit the entire post-Ukrainian space.

It’s like dealing with oncology - if there is already a surgical intervention, then the doctor cuts out everything that is affected by the infection so that the entire body is preserved. The same is true here – we must destroy any opportunity for this ideology to be present on our native land.