On one of the first days of the occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, I spoke with a well-known Russian human rights activist. The day before, together with foreign journalists, he pulled us out of the blockade, which was arranged for our Center for Journalistic Investigations by “polite people” and outcasts of Medvedchuk.

\? Firstly, it's illegal and at gunpoint, no one recognizes. Secondly, people will not vote because the majority will boycott. And then: \? Everything here is cardboard.! "

“And in Russia everything is cardboard. And nothing, they admit, ”the human rights activist answered in the tone of a doomed experienced.

" - I did not give up.

\? And people will just disappear.”.

Fear and lies - in fact, this is all you need to know about Russia's policy both in its own and in the territories it occupies. Fear, which should fetter freedom and inspire fear of losing what is left; and a lie that justifies any crime and passes cardboard for granite, and other people's attitudes as their own beliefs.

The new Ukrainian territories occupied by the Russian Federation are another illustration of this, to which, however, the category “with special cruelty and cynicism” should be applied.. On the occupied lands of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, at least in large settlements, we still do not see mass atrocities against the civilian population, as in the Kiev region and the east, completely razed to the ground settlements and mass graves. This territory is now being “pityed” a little, because it, especially on the left bank of the Dnieper, can be said to have a sacred meaning - this is a long-desired way by land from the Russian Federation to Crimea, besides the North Crimean Canal with irreplaceable Dnieper water. Plans to quickly play out the Crimean-Donetsk scenario here with the “republics” failed, instead, the occupiers received powerful protests and the lack of the required number of collaborators to blind new administrations.

Consequently, the occupiers were faced with three urgent tasks: to stop civil resistance, to take control of local governments, to eliminate independent media and to launch Russian broadcasting channels instead..

All three undertook to solve the usual way for the Russian Federation by force. Hundreds of people - city and village heads, deputies, public figures, journalists, media owners, veterans of the ATO / JFO - were abducted and thrown into basements. According to the prosecutor of the Kherson region Vladimir Kalyuga, at the beginning of April, 137 cases of abductions and illegal detentions were documented in the region, the fate of almost 90 people is unknown. At the same time, none of the heads of local self-government bodies of the Kherson region agreed to cooperate with the occupiers (at least publicly). The mayors released from the basements leave the region and from the free territory, as a rule, they try to be useful to the communities - to organize humanitarian supplies, deliver medicines and beat out salaries to state employees and pensions.

However, there is a huge problem: the Ukrainian authorities have not yet determined the legal regime in the de facto territories occupied by the Russian Federation, which are considered free de jure.. This raises many questions both among the population and among deputies and leaders of territorial communities.. They are asking for clarification as soon as possible on how exactly they should act in the event of the creation of Russian administrations, the filing of resignations by officials, the introduction of the “ruble zone”, the termination of the work of the State Treasury and, accordingly, the payment of salaries, pensions, financing the work of public utilities. In the end, in what case will the activities of employees of the executive committees and the public sector be qualified as collaborationism in the territory completely controlled by the Russian military?. The President, in an interview with Ukrainian online publications, assured that the mechanism for financing the government of the occupied communities and their residents was developed by the government, but not communicated to the people, promised that on Monday-Tuesday (that is, no later than today), Prime Minister Shmygal should provide all the necessary explanations. So what are we waiting for.

However, let's add one more question.. Who Should Be Responsible for Crimes Committed by Russian Troops in the Occupied Territories? Investigators have no identified suspects. Russian commandants of the occupied cities and regions do not have surnames! In the " It is not known who gives orders to detain and carry out filtration measures and raids, seize property, dispose of private or state property, it is not known - "

However, given the mass nature and severity of the crimes committed daily in the temporarily occupied territories against the civilian population, the names of the commanders of the military units of the RF Armed Forces who are in charge in each settlement should be made public. The power of the occupiers must be personified, and each of the commanders must be held accountable for war crimes committed on his orders or by his subordinates, as well as by the " As it is provided for by the norm of international law on command responsibility, which is also in the so-called law on war criminals (No. 2689), adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine almost 11 months ago and, contrary to a constitutional obligation, was never signed by the president. But last week, the government registered a new bill, where the rule on command responsibility was replaced by responsibility for "

Thus, now only Ukrainians who have cooperated with the enemy appear in criminal proceedings regarding war crimes.. One can only call them authorities conditionally: collaborators and traitors appointed by the occupiers to act as heads of administrations and mayors are just a screen and talking heads for Russian channels. Members of the Opposition Bloc and Opposition Platform for Life parties, activists of public organizations of Viktor Medvedchuk and Ilya Kiva, former deputies with a corruption trail, losers and political outcasts have become a real forge of personnel.. Many elders and deputies cooperate furtively, fearing, on the one hand, the occupiers, on the other, people's condemnation and responsibility.. But if it comes to a “referendum”, we will have to decide.

Personnel shortage led to the need to attract the Varangians from the occupied Crimea, ORDLO and Russia itself. The "

The city hall of Genichesk was " From Moscow to the occupied Kherson region, State Duma deputy Igor Kastyukevich got into the habit, visits hospitals and libraries, confers with the " Local media are already calling him the "

In the absence of occupation administrations in the occupied territories, looting and business flourish under the guise of a “humanitarian mission” and high-sounding words about “restoring economic ties with Crimea”. Significantly cheaper vegetables from the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions began to be imported to the peninsula. As Simferopol residents say, radishes and cabbages are brought to the wholesale market by military KamAZ vehicles under the protection of the National Guard.

Kherson farmers, frightened by the raids of the military and their henchmen at the beginning of the occupation, fear that land and business will soon be redistributed. In early April, the owner of a large agricultural company " He was captured along with his son, their fate is still unknown. There is no information about another well-known Kherson citizen - the former people's deputy and the head of the regional state administration Andrei Putilov, who was kidnapped on April 8. He moved away from politics a long time ago and was engaged in business - he was in charge of Mechanical Plant LLC, co-owned by him and the Canadian company. In both cases, the probable cause of the kidnapping is said to be the extraction of business..

One of the most high-profile looting crimes occurred in Melitopol. From the exhibition site of Agrotek-Invest, the official dealer of the American agricultural machinery manufacturer John Deere in Ukraine, the Kadyrovites stole three new combines, a tractor, three seeders with a total value of 1.5 million euros, as well as 20 tons of branded lubricating oils.

The most interesting thing is that the company managed to figure out where the stolen equipment was taken: thanks to the systems installed on it, experts found that the equipment is now in Chechnya, in the village of Zakan-Yurt near Grozny.

Who got the stolen equipment Judging by the address, which was lit up thanks to the installed beacons, combines and a tractor were driven to the territory of the already liquidated "

The village of Zakan-Yurt is part of the Achkhoy-Martan district and is known for being the home village of the head of the Chechen government, Muslim Khuchiev, and his brother Tamerlan Khuchiev, who heads the district administration. The latter is also known for being the executive director of the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation for 11 years.. So it is not surprising that many social facilities are being built in the village at the expense of the fund, at the opening of which you can see another iconic character - Adam Delimkhanov, who is now in command of the Kadyrov assassins in eastern Ukraine.

The Kadyrov Sr. Foundation is now known in Melitopol, because it is from it that the invaders deliver " So Melitopol residents get canned food, and Chechnya gets brand new " Profitable "

New “taxes” have appeared in the lives of residents of the occupied south, where Kadyrov’s men and mercenaries from ORDLO operate. In the city of Tokmak, the invaders held a meeting of local entrepreneurs, at which, under pain of punishment, they announced a new procedure: pay 30% of “taxes” and utility bills in cash, and bring goods from the occupied Crimea.

The occupiers are not very concerned about providing people in the territories under their control: the shortage of food and medicine is growing, many remote villages are on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. Humanitarian supplies from the free territory of Ukraine are blocked, and those that reach are plundered. There are more and more Russian goods of dubious quality in the shops of the occupied south, but the process of rubleization, despite loud statements by officials of the “government” of Crimea about “switching to rubles”, is still weak. In stores, they pay with cards of Ukrainian banks, the price tags are in hryvnia, and the rubles that are brought from Crimea for “pensions” are exchanged here by the henchmen of the invaders at a “favorable” rate.

A sign that the occupiers are going to stay for a long time should be plans to transfer schools to education “according to Russian standards”. According to Aksyonov, teachers from Kherson and Zaporozhye regions will be brought to the peninsula in the summer, where they will be retrained. “Head of the State Council” of Crimea Konstantinov says that, on the contrary, teachers from Crimea will go to the “liberated” territories to retrain local teachers to teach correctly. It seems that the details of the “reform” of forced Russification have not yet been agreed.

Meanwhile, people from the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions are disappearing. Not only in the cellars of secret prisons. Fear of reprisals and unwillingness to live under the yoke of the " The Russians are holding back the flow of migrants, because they need the population as a human shield in every settlement, which tomorrow may be on the front line. However, the outflow of disloyal population also plays into their hands, and the crossing of numerous roadblocks allows for tough filtering.

Especially many people run away from the left-bank part of the occupied south. According to the version, which I fully share, the Russians can leave Kherson and other settlements on the right bank of the Dnieper and firmly gain a foothold on the left, undermining the Antonovskiy and Kakhovskiy bridges. That is, to do what the Ukrainian troops did not do in order to hold back the movement of the enemy, who was rapidly moving from the Crimea. Holding the left bank with the road from Russia, ORDLO to the Crimea by land and Dnieper water for the peninsula, Russia will be considered a victory.

But first we need a " So far, Russia has not officially announced plans to annex the Kherson region and part of the Zaporozhye region to the Crimea and the Russian Federation, they are heard only in the informational noise traditionally created by the Crimean puppets. But even in the case of the “restoration of the Tavria province”, a “referendum” is needed. How to hold it in the protest region, Russia cares little. Everything is cardboard! They will draw and show the correct pictures with queues at the “precincts”, tears of joy of the “liberated” population, stories about a happy life without “Nazis”. The perimeter of the armed military will not fall into the frame.

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Read more articles by Valentina Samar at the link.