Probably one of the most difficult issues now in three years as occupied Lugansk is people's moods and their expectations. The biggest myth is everyone here, for Russia. Maybe for this myth there were some premises at the very beginning, but going into details and particulars of destinies, it becomes clear that everything is not so simple.

Of my friends for Russia were a few people. They did not hide their views. Yes, there, they actively imposed these views on everyone around, went to rallies and pickets, spoke from the stands and donated blood for "militiamen". And left immediately, back in June 2014 in Russia, without waiting, in fact, the advent of Russia in Lugansk. Many of us then commented on their departure with a huge resentment: if you called for change, wait for them, have the courage to go through everything here. But my departed friends considered themselves victims of the circumstances and suffered from the war no less than those who survived everything in Lugansk without going anywhere.

Someone for Russia was and is, and all of its unhurried "progressive-offensive" movements perceive as inevitability. Expecting that Russia in Lugansk will "come". Another category: those who are on two chairs. Double standards are their fad. They are against the Ukrainian, but for pensions, food, pensions, medicines "maiden in Ukraine".

Observing our smooth transition to the Russian rails, it is easier to be "for" than "against". Yes, and what can you do - even for you, though against it? Get used to, adapt, if you do not plan to leave from here. Even if you are against my heart, your "against", like the windmills for Don Quixote. Blasting monuments or gluing leaflets under the cover of night? And then to spend months and years in the cellars, waiting for the exchange of prisoners? And from time to time give interviews that you are warm and nourishing in these basements.

There is still such an almost invisible tendency - not to talk about politics, to be out of everything. This is a feature of the local stratum of the intelligentsia. Live, work, but, as far as possible, ignore everything that is happening. As a consequence - the acceptance of any power, everything that happens and can happen. Talking about politics for such - bad taste. Only critical, with humor and preferably without ratings. They are away from any events.

There is also a category of those who do not see halftones. Carpentry pays pensions? So he's good.. I fixed the bridge, loves children, promises and does - it means he's good. And Ukraine is bad because she shot us. There is only white and only black. Usually those who easily give in to television, who believe what they see and what they read in the press. Although none of them will leave their homes, if Lugansk again turns out to be Ukraine. Often these people only have that their homes and gardens - all of their simple wealth.

It is customary to think that if you are here, you are still a "republic". This is only partly true. Indeed, many people who connect their future with Ukraine left from Lugansk. Their life has developed in different ways, but they are true to their views, heart, Motherland. But in Lugansk there are many who are waiting for the return to Lugansk of Ukraine. Talk about this openly not accepted - too dangerous. Around a lot of people affected by the war, lost their health, loved ones, housing, work. Those for whom the enemy should have a name, and the name "war" is too abstract for this, so the culprit of everything is considered to be Ukraine.

And there is a whole layer of those who are neutral. Neither for nor against. For some, the choice is painful, as a request of parents to choose between son and daughter. Someone has relatives in Russia and Ukraine, which is why the country assesses, through the prism of its attitude to the relatives living there, its past. They answer the questions for who they are: "I have all my relatives in Russia, how should I treat Russia?" There are a lot of those who need to have simple and understandable things: work, food, light, water, outlines of his tomorrow. And, by and large, they do not care what happens around - if only it does not concern their simple and understandable bricks of tomorrow.

My neighbor-builder with all my heart for Ukraine. He explains this by saying that three years ago he had a job, a stable income, opportunities. Every Friday he ended up in a cafe next to us for a shish kebab - his incomes allowed it. Now a delicacy for him - a chicken, because to allow himself a shish kebab for three years he could not even once. Yes, Ukraine for many - it's food, loans, repairs, purchases, new things. And over time it all seems almost unrealistic - stable income, shopping, vacation. Neighbor-pensioner was able to finish the bath before the war to his wing and repair it. And in that nostalgia for loans, there is also nostalgia for that time. "Everything that you see on me now, from the second. I do not have any new things. Even a bag and boots are not new. But now I can not buy this ".

But there are those who are neither for nor against simply because they have brought very much the last three years - a career in the local "army", enrolling in a university, growing up in a "republic" and a new experience.

Ask the young people about twenty what they have been for these three years, and they will shrug their shoulders, because without these three last years there would not have been their growing up and so many things. For them, Ukraine has remained somewhere far in the form of the sea in summer and past childhood. And Russia promises recognition of local diplomas, jobs ... Something beyond the turn of the road, to which it is still necessary to reach.

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