In Russia, the protest movement is spreading - actions against the corrupt government, against Putin's next presidential term, against the Platon system, against the Moscow renovation. And although it is difficult to unite all these protests under a single denominator, the Russian opposition still does not give up hope that "Russia will get up from sleep".
In the Crimea, which recently became "Russian", the situation is completely different: the Crimeans also protest, but only against the local authorities, and they are waiting for the solutions to all problems from Russian President Vladimir Putin, "writes Yevgenia Goryunova for" Crimea. Realities ".
DISSOLVENESS OF CRIMEAN The growth of discontent of Crimeans by the Russian authorities began to appear already in 2015, when the euphoria from "historical reunification" began to weaken under the influence of severe Russian reality. Instead of the desired Russian order and stability, for which they voted for so many years in Ukraine, they received official arbitrariness and legalized raiding - as a result, the inhabitants of the peninsula lose their property. Social justice, which dreamed of the sounds of the Soviet-Russian anthem, triumphs solely on the side of those in power, whose revenues are growing exponentially. Simple mortals are deprived of jobs and do not pay salaries for months.
The owners of trading pavilions on the Crimean markets, who began to dismantle under various pretexts, were among the first to protest against the authorities. But they could not save jobs - no one stopped the dismantling, and merchants were offered trading places on the outskirts.
Having sensed the taste, the Russian authorities went even further - they already claim not only to trade places, but also to the land plots of the Crimeans, often together with real estate. For example, the neighbors of Gurzuf, the neighboring "Artek" deprived the beach, cemetery and housing, taking advantage of its departmental status. They protested for two years, but to no avail - the "most humane" Crimean court sided with the leadership of "Artek".
Now it was the turn of the Sevastopolites, who, under the pretext of accepting a new general plan, are going to confiscate thousands of land plots in the coastal zone. All the arguments of the owners are broken about the tough response of new owners about the illegal nature of the allocation of lands by the Ukrainian authorities. Indignant citizens go to the rally and pickets, the city government on the eve of the gubernatorial elections even makes concessions, suspending the adoption of the general plan. But who will prevent the "provost" of the governor Dmitry Ovsyannikov as the only real contender for the chair of the "mayor" to solve this issue in the right direction after the elections?.
Analyzing the socio-political situation on the peninsula in 2016, the experts of the Russian Committee for Civil Initiatives called the Crimea and Sevastopol regions with very high levels of tension. And in June 2017, according to Russian experts, Crimea and Sevastopol ranked fifth and seventh positions in the conflict-risk rating of the regions, letting Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Moscow region and Dagestan.
At the same time, the main reasons for the growth of the conflict potential on the peninsula are land issues. Of course, property issues can become a catalyst for popular anger and bring Crimeans to the streets of cities. However, the uniqueness of the Crimean protest at this stage is that it is not directed against the Kremlin authorities, but only against local officials, in which the Crimeans see the root of all their troubles.
FAITH IN "MESSIAH" The distinctive feature of the protest movement in the Crimea is its exclusive orientation against the local authorities and waiting for help from Putin.
Initially, the Crimeans were sure that in all their problems local officials were guilty - the bureaucrats of Ukrainian times, which were quickly repainted in the colors of the Russian tricolor. As the number of Russian Varangians increased in the power offices of the peninsula, the Crimean anger began to spread to visiting officials who were accused of ignorance of the specifics of the region, ignoring the interests of the local population and greed. This conflict is especially pronounced in Sevastopol, where the number of Russian "colonists" in the city's leadership exceeded 60%, and among top management (the governor and his deputies) has already reached 100%.
Who will help the inhabitants of the Crimea in this situation? Who will save them? It is not difficult to guess - the one who already once saved them from the "Kiev junta". The one whose strong hand they craved. The one for whom many of them are ready to cast their vote in the elections of 2018. And therefore almost no protest action on the peninsula can not do without a poster with the inscription "Putin, help!".
The Russian president was asked to save jobs and pay salaries, stop the redistribution of property and barbaric sand extraction across the peninsula, stop building up reserves and cutting down the Red Book. They write collective complaints, record video messages and even lay out inscriptions from stones to fly over God forgotten peninsula, the Russian leader saw a plea for help. But Putin remains deaf to the groans of Crimeans, who regularly receive unsubscribe from the presidential administration about the transfer of complaints to the local authorities. The circle is closed.
PUTIN AS OBEREG Fearing the growth of the protest activity of Crimeans, local authorities, under various pretexts, increasingly refuse to hold rallies and protest actions. According to the Crimean Human Rights Mission, if in 2014 it was denied holding two rallies with criticism against the authorities, in 2016 - such refusals were already ten.
Therefore, quite often Crimeans began to hold "rallies in support of Putin's policy", in which they express their full devotion to the Russian president and brand the local authorities. The unique picture is obtained - like protesting, but meekly, cringing before Putin, who, in fact, heads the Russian machine of powerless lawlessness and corruption.
And it is not known to poor Crimeans that the local "boyars" without the sanction of the Kremlin "tsar" and the step will not do. And if they were given the Crimean patrimony for looting, then they can do anything, anything with "serfs", and with their property. And if in 2014 the property of the Ukrainian state and large Ukrainian business was "wrung out", now it is the turn of ordinary mortals who will be selected by the territories most favored by Russians. The main task of the Crimean satraps of the Russian master is not to interfere with the interests of the federal authorities on the peninsula and to send money to Moscow on time in Moscow.
Although, frankly speaking, Putin's amulet does not always work: the businessmen of Evpatoria failed to protect their tents with the help of the leader's portraits - they dismantled together with Putin. Some Simferopol public figures wanted to use a portrait of the Russian president to protect the city lindens from barbaric felling during the reconstruction of the center - a similar action with a photo of Yanukovych-President took place in 2011. But the "senior comrades" experienced by the experience discouraged young colleagues from such actions, bearing in mind that "careless treatment" with the leader's face during the "effective manager" of Stalin led to real prison terms.
But even if you do not touch Putin's face, but just go out to Simferopol with a poster in support of Navalny, you can be behind bars for 15 days. You can not even touch the Russian oppositionist - just go to the picket against the Deriban trade union property and get to the police station without even having time to develop prepared posters. Therefore, we should not expect a rigid protest from the Crimeans - they were not capable of it earlier, but under the conditions of the arbitrariness of the siloviki and even more so.
"Saved" in 2014 by Putin, Crimeans continue to rely on him as a "messiah" in solving the problems of the peninsula. But it is one thing to grab someone else's territory under the plausible pretext of "protecting the local population" and quite another is to protect the rights of Crimeans. To expect lawfulness and observance of rights from a leader who grossly violates the norms of international and internal law is nonsense. But the Crimeans do not understand this, or do not want to understand, for fear of losing the last hope.
Sooner or later, the belief in the "good king" will die, burying the hopes of the Crimeans for a well-fed life, stability and order. And with them will die and love for Russia. But the disappointment that followed is unlikely to be a launching pad for the formation of a real protest movement in the Crimea.
Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Join also the TSN group. Blogs on facebook and follow the updates of the section!.