article by Olexsander Neberykut, an analyst of the Civil Network «OPORA»
and Oleksandr Klіuzhev, an analyst of the Civil Network «OPORA», coordinator of the Ukrainian Nationwide campaign "The Publicity Index measuring local governance"
The concept of mastering and normalizing life in the territories temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation is based on the willingness to loot. This voluntaristic trait unites and bonds ordinary Russian soldiers, high-ranking Ukrainian collaborators, putin's officials, and deputies of the state duma. Fantasies about the "russian space" fade and wear off when a russian officer in Irpin comes across a high-quality (non-Belarusian made) refrigerator, and the pseudo-mayor of Genichesk and a long-time fan of Dzhigurda get a fully operational network of gas stations.
Nationalization in the pocket
The difficult path from the "nationalization" of local markets to the appropriation of large Ukrainian enterprises, which TOTs chiefs once have passed in three years, is planned by the self-proclaimed governors of Kherson and Zaporizhzhya to take in a matter of weeks. At first, a gauleiter of the administration of Zaporizhzhia Oblast controlled by the Russian Federation showed a piece of paper about the "nationalization" of Ukraine's property, which covers "land plots, natural resources, and objects of strategic sectors of the economy". Almost synchronously, a similar decision was made by Saldo, a kremlin supporter in the Kherson region. In order to hide the intention to misappropriate any property in the temporarily occupied territories, collaborators announced the "nationalization" of the property of Ukrainian oligarchs. Noble robbery, to be sure.
According to the self-proclaimed Balytskyi’s deputy, Mr. Trofimov, such a decision was made in order to "preserve the national treasure for residents" but some of the Ukrainian property in Zaporizhia region will be transferred to the russian owners in the future. Saldo specified that all property located on the regions’ territory (real estate and technological facilities) that is the state property of Ukraine shall automatically become the "state property of the Kherson region". Simply put, the non-existent entity has endowed itself with the right to dispose of all available property and resources. "Why, it could've been done that way?" — the experienced Saldo might have received the question from the well-known but dead collaborators Zakharchenko and Bolotov. Although fictitiously, but they legalized their "right to loot" through pseudo-referendums.
Local representatives of the occupiers announced the creation of the so-called property fund, which duty is to account for and register not only state (municipal) sites but also private owned facilities. For businesses that refuse to cooperate and share profits with the occupying MCA, the external management procedure will be applied. As Saldo said, "private property is not withdrawn, and the owner has the right not to lose it if they work under the laws of Kherson region, which today meet the needs of time".
Selivanov, the self-proclaimed deputy head of the so-called oblast department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Zaporizhia oblast, told about the laws ruling in the newly occupied territories: "We live by the laws of the good, truth, and justice. Yes, indeed, the police establish the laws of truth and justice. We no longer have Ukrainian legislation, and there are no russian laws yet, so we work sincerely and fairly."
Strictly adhering to this flawless logical reasoning, Volodymyr Saldo, on the basis of some "regulation on the MCA", forcefully took possession of the Kherson ANC chain of pharmacies and central district pharmacies of communal property. The temporary administration of pharmacies, according to the "document", was assigned to the Renaissance Pharma LLC, which is associated with businessmen from the FSB Moscow administration. The occupiers are already selecting the "owner" for the Danon plant and are preparing to receive profits from Kherson City Typography PJSC. Certainly, in none of the cases is it about buying out or reimbursing to the lawful owners. This is purportedly what sincere and fair approach is all about.
"Nationalization" also reached foreign vessels in the port of the captured Mariupol. According to Pushilin, in this way, the DPR formation will have its own commercial fleet, and the Mariupol port will be operational by the end of June. The "nationalization" of other people's property was preceded by a statement from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation that six foreign ships did not "take measures” to leave the port. Ukrainian enterprises, such as Ukrposhta, had been previously "nationalized" by the unrecognized formations. The grain of the previous year crop is "exported" from the Kherson region to the Russian Federation, and further. In two weeks, the occupiers plan to set up a process of collecting and promptly stealing the harvest of winter grains.
In anticipation of the great looting, russian high-ranking officials ("businessmen rooting in politics") flock for trips to the territories of Ukraine newly captured by the Kremlin. Rates are low, and valuable lots are at stake — energy and heat supply organizations, gas station chains, banks, telecommunication companies, retail chains, agricultural production facilities, or, whatever banal it may sound, even scrap metal.
Referendum as an internal policy
However, one should not underestimate the political motives and expectations from the tour of high-ranking representatives of the putin regime. Voyages to the temporarily occupied territories have already become an element of the internal political process on the territory of russia. The exhibitory visits or unsupported comments about the success of the occupation increase the status and political weight in the conditional hierarchy of the putin's pyramid of power. This is equally understood by Aksionov from the occupied Crimea or Sobyanin from the center of the imperial metropolis. Last week, the Mayor of Moscow visited Luhansk, signed some pieces of paper on the twinning of these cities and promised to "bring order" to the occupied regional center of Ukraine.
There is one disturbing detail in the competition of russian officials in the destroyed territories. It seems that the putin regime wants to create for its citizens the illusion of a successful "special operation," as a result of which new territories have "grown attached" to Russia. They started building an image of victory suitable for domestic use. From the point of view of the Kremlin's imperial reasoning, the war with Ukraine, by default, is an element of the internal political process of the Russian Federation. It is obvious to them that this is a special operation to tame an unruly province, rather than a war with a sovereign state. That is why the Ukrainian track is overseen by Sergey Kirienko, First Deputy Head of the RF AP, who is in charge of the internal policy of the Russian Federation, rather than by someone from the foreign policy bloc. Therefore, all these visits look like work with the internal electorate, within the framework of the multi-episode pre-election campaign of the United Russia party.
The irremovable VIP campaigner, Turchak, presented the party center of humanitarian aid in Kherson and announced the opening of such centers in other occupied regions. In the city, about a hundred billboards with party logos were put around, displaying Suvorov, Pushkin and Potemkin who campaign for the "United Russia". Deputies of the State Duma visit the captured territories as if they own the place — they distribute supplies and hand out gifts. However, few of them dare to walk without flak jackets off the camera. This is how people's love is, it is so insidious and dangerous.
By the way, the process of regional elections scheduled for September, 11 has started in the Russian Federation in recent days. This day, Member of the State Duma, Novichkov, suggested holding a referendum on the "reunification" of the DPR, LPR, South Ossetia and Kherson Oblast with Russia. An MP Slutskyi, who replaced Zhirinovskyi, both in a party position and as a generator of Kremlin fantasies, expects that Kherson oblast and the unrecognized republics of the "DPR" and "LPR" may "join" Russia as soon as in July. Senator of the Parliament of the Russian Federationm Klimov, believes that "for the adjoining of Kherson region or other regions to the Russian Federation, it may not be necessary to hold a referendum." All these scenarios are sensitive to change in the front line and moods in the Kremlin's political bureau.
The self-proclaimed deputy head of the "military and civil administration" of the occupied Kherson region, Stremousov, feels this more than anyone. At the end of May, he announced that Kherson oblast would not have time to "join" the Russian Federation by autumn, and the issue of the plebiscite would be resolved as soon as 2023, after the situation gets stable. However, on June 7, Stremousov again spoke about the referendum, without specifying any dates, though. Sort of a pocket red flag that the collaborator begins to wave as soon as the "Russian spirit" breezes from Moscow.
Hardly has a real prospect of a counter-offensive from the Armed Forces of Ukraine appeared on the horizon, Kirienko visited Kherson with new instructions from the "bunker". Judging by the unanimous quartet chorus of Saldo, Rogov, Stremousov and Danilchenko, they were instructed to immediately prepare a referendum following the Crimean scenario and wait for further orders.
Without confidence in its own ability to develop an offensive or at least hold back the already occupied territories, the Kremlin is preparing the ground for sort of securing the victory for the referendum to take place. And here, we should not exclude a resumption of the scenario that Pushilin hoped for: "We would like to see Ukraine as an ally state with Belarus and Russia. But this is no longer the state of Ukraine, but a new state that could be born after the offensive operation" (press conference in Donetsk on February, 11, 2022). A provisional Saldo or Pushilin could declare themselves the sovereigns of any state entity in the territories occupied by the Russian Federation, and the Kremlin would officially recognize it.
Between volunteers and collaborators
While Putin is still deciding about the plan to legalize the stolen goods, local collaborators and visiting "performers" are preparing for a possible freeze on military conflict and the protracted occupation. In the captured territories, the formation of the occupation police is ongoing. "Denazification" of the law enforcement system has traditionally started with the change of flags on the flagpoles of police stations. The executive personnel is made up of people from TOTs and Crimea, because Ukrainian police officers have left the territory, and collaborators do not trust those who stayed. In Zaporizhia oblast, representatives of the so-called "Orthodox Cossacks" became an auxiliary personnel reserve for the police. The characters who worked as full-time bodyguards for the hierarchs of the Moscow church will now be on guard of the law. A remarkable evolution.
In the context of the Russian citizenship campaign, potential voters are already being recruited to legitimize the occupation. The official branch of the Migration Service of the Russian Federation has even opened in Melitopol. Since the occupiers do not have access to Ukrainian registers, the documents are collected manually. The personal data is sent for special verification to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. The processing of documents and printing of passports is coordinated in the occupied Crimea. However, the collection of documents for passports is mostly done by volunteers from Russia who are sifted through the sieve of the Federal Security Service and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
As early as April, 30, Putin signed a special decree to support volunteer activities in the controlled republics. In the near future, in addition to volunteers, we can expect the emergence of the landing of pro-Kremlin civic movements authorized to brainwash various target groups. The draft law on amendments to the law on public associations, submitted by the United Russia MPs in May, is under consideration by the State Duma. It provides for the simplification of the conditions for the creation of branches and representative offices of Russian civic movements. To open branches of such all-Russian movements in Genichesk or Energodar, as, for example, "Orthodox Russia", "Antimaidan", "Victory Volunteers", the decision of the governing body will suffice without the need to convene a general congress (conference) of the organization.
Threats to hold a pseudo-tribunal against Azov servicemen remain on the agenda of propaganda media, and the situation for soldiers who are foreign citizens becomes extremely threatening. Head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, said that "the trial of the military from Azovstal in Mariupol should be as open as possible". He also promised to invite representatives of foreign countries to the court. At the same time, this week, the occupiers announced taking the case to the so-called court involving four foreign citizens who are the military servicemen of Ukraine. Representatives of the occupation's pseudo-prosecution said that they could face the death penalty.
The occupying MCAs, along with the military of the Russian Federation, continue to do everything they can to completely isolate the captured territories and break any ties of the population with legitimate authorities in the free territories of Ukraine as soon as possible. After all the departure opportunities were blocked, when the Ukrainian mobile communication was disabled, the Internet was redirected through Russian servers, Russian television was imposed, the current priority is to establish control over the educational process.
Collaborators have seized the Kherson State Maritime Academy (evacuated to Odessa) and are preparing to resume the educational process by appointing a pseudo-rector. Melitopol State University was established on the basis of the captured universities of Melitopol and Berdyansk. Students were transferred to a budget-funded form of study, they will receive Russian type diplomas.
Schools have started enrolling students and are inviting children who stopped attending classes to return to educational establishments. By September, 1, about 20,000 teachers from Kherson and Zaporizhzhya oblasts have to attend advanced training courses in the occupied Crimea to learn propaganda techniques.
Iryna Vereshchuk, in her appeal to teachers to leave the TOTs, started a discussion about the correctness of choices and about how to treat the decisions of those who left and those who stayed in the temporarily occupied territories. The sensitivity and controversial nature of such recommendations is evidenced by the quite reasonable reaction of a group of leading human rights organizations (ZMINA Human Rights Center, Crimea SOS, Donbas SOS, Influence Groups). They emphasized that any "stigmatization" of Ukrainian citizens who stayed behind in the occupied territories will not have any positive consequences for our state. "The call to leave the occupied territories will probably have to and should be expressed by the Ukrainian authorities, but it must be followed by the information about the guaranteed safe evacuation corridors, the further accommodation of residents of the occupied territories, the assistance and support that the government, international organizations and public volunteer initiatives are ready to provide", — said human rights activists.
Finally, one cannot but notice that the proxies of the aggressor country are failing to gain voluntary recognition among the local population. That is why the Russian Federation counts on repression, coercion, and propaganda. Despite all this, citizens do not give up — there are regular reports of active and passive protests by residents of occupied cities, as well as facts of non-cooperation. The occupiers feel that there is a solid majority in the temporarily captured territories who wish them to face defeat in the war.
Read this article by Olexsander Neberykut and Oleksandr Kliuzhev in russian and Ukrainian.