“A wave of repression, my acquaintances are afraid to even breathe”: Crimea following 10 years of occupation
in 2014 on March 18, shortly following the beginning of the military occupation, the “Agreement on the Admission of the Republic of Crimea to the Russian Federation” was signed. Initially, approximately equal numbers of supporters and opponents of the annexation took to the streets of Crimea, but mass repressions once morest activists and Crimean Tatars (some of whom were soon found murdered with signs of torture), as well as active Kremlin censorship and propaganda, reduced the resistance to nothing.
The independent portal “The Insider” spoke to residents of Crimea: while some of them tell how well they live on 30,000 rubles (300 euros) a month and complain to the police regarding neighbors singing Ukrainian songs, others admit that they are waiting for the return of Ukraine and describe an atmosphere of complete fear .
Stanislav (40 years old, entrepreneur): “I was saved by the fact that I stopped watching TV. Russian propaganda works at an incomprehensible level”
I have been in Crimea since birth: first I lived in Simferopol, then in Sevastopol, my wife is from there. My father is from Kyiv and my mother is from Crimea, maybe that’s why Ukraine attracts me more than many of my acquaintances. We have a long tradition of positioning ourselves as an autonomous republic. The people of Crimea were attached to this idea and in the end we see what it led to – we became “autonomous” from Ukraine.
in 2014 it seemed to me that only 30% supported Russia. people. Now I think there were 50 percent of them, and among the remaining 50 percent. (of those who supported Ukraine) regarding 30 percent. there were doubters – those who were dissatisfied with everything in Ukraine or not at all, but did not want to “leave”. However, following a series of negative actions from the Ukrainian side, in particular the interruption of water and electricity supplies, some of the doubters switched to the Russian side, and the rest simply left.
I have a fairly wide circle of acquaintances, but there are only two people left who support Ukraine. They are not ready for any actions: they are afraid to correspond, talk on the phone. Pro-Russian sentiments were encouraged by the actions of the international community and the imposed sanctions: many international companies did not cooperate with the residents of Crimea, it was impossible to use bank cards – Visa and Mastercard did not work. The sanctions did not affect V. Putin, but the ordinary residents of Crimea, so people stopped resisting and began to support Russia.
It was different at first. Before the referendum, my acquaintances and friends were once morest Crimea becoming part of Russia. We thought that only Russian-speaking grandmothers and representatives of the Black Sea Fleet would vote for the referendum. But when we voted once morest, and the next day we saw the results, where more than 90 percent. was in favor, we realized that this whole referendum was just a hoax. We lost hope, we thought that Ukraine would see the perfect falsification and come to us, but nothing happened. Russia did what it wanted, and those who were once morest decided that they were left alone – it turns out, more than 90 percent. wants to be with Russia, and they, the opponents, are a minority. So what to do? Going to a rally with those “green men” with machine guns everywhere?
When we went to the rally, there were 90 percent of the protesters. Tatars and regarding 10 percent Russian speakers. There were regarding as many Russian supporters as ours, but following the rally they kept asking where their buses were. So, everything was ready: Russia brought people from Sevastopol, and Ukraine did not give any support to its supporters. And the next morning, it was impossible to approach the building of the Verkhovna Rada – the entire perimeter was guarded by those “green men”.
Russia worked actively. Immediately there were checkpoints on the roads, some kind of watchmen, television was actively engaged in propaganda. My friends in Kyiv said: get out of there, but I didn’t understand why I should leave and give my house to the occupiers. If we all leave, only people loyal to Russia will remain, and then why will Ukraine get Crimea back?
The only thing that saved us from Russian propaganda was that we stopped watching TV in the first days following the vote. I watched many people who were originally pro-Ukraine and saw how they gradually changed by watching Russian news: propaganda in Russia works at an unfathomable level.
In the first weeks following the referendum, we ran out of money because we had invested everything we had in goods – we had a grocery store and kept the rest of the money in an account. When Ukraine cut us off from their payment systems, we mightn’t withdraw money from the bank. Later we lost a lot of money in currency exchange because the exchange rate was unstable – they changed it as they wanted.
Later, there were difficulties in registering the birth certificate of our second son – only a few years later we managed to go to the territory of Ukraine and prove in court that our child was born in Crimea. We wanted to be with Ukraine, but it was very risky, because every time you traveled to the territory of Ukraine, you were interrogated by the Russian military. And God forbid, if they found out that you went there to do some paperwork, they would immediately arrest you. Repression was constant, it was scary to go outside the territory.
When the war started, it became dangerous to even breathe. February 24 I got a call from my sister in Kyiv who woke up from the explosions. And we live in Sevastopol, forty paces from the headquarters of the air fleet. And then you realize that they are flying out of here and your sister is being blown up. And you feel your participation in it – you watch someone being sent there who can kill your sister, your grandmother, your brother.
Kateryna (name changed), participant of the Yellow Ribbon resistance movement in the occupied territories of Ukraine: “If you speak Ukrainian, you will be reported”
I came to Crimea from the Kherson region and plan to stay here until the end of the elections so that I don’t have to stay in my place of residence. I also went to Crimea before and following the annexation. Life on the peninsula has changed a lot since then. First of all, there are many arrivals from Russia – following 2014. many of those who supported Ukraine left due to repression.
My parents and I talked regarding it often, especially following the full-scale invasion. My parents said that the actions that the Russians carried out in Kherson or Zaporizhia were also taking place in Crimea at that time – only in a lighter form. Russia has clamped down just as harshly on those who have expressed a pro-Ukrainian stance, forcing them to make videos apologizing for saying “Glory to Ukraine!”, for example. The same thing is happening now – apology videos are very common. They use the same method as ten years ago: they nip any manifestation of a pro-Ukrainian position in the bud.
During these ten years, the situation has deteriorated significantly. If earlier it was possible to speak Ukrainian freely, now speaking Ukrainian is equated to a crime. Although, in fact, both Russian, Ukrainian, and Crimean Tatar languages are the state languages of the peninsula. However, if you try to speak Ukrainian at any gas station, you will be condemned or it will be grounds for a search. Harassment is ongoing.
Over the years, many people have moved here from Russia as housing has become cheaper, and they have settled here. At their expense, the number of pro-Russian people became even larger. However, the political situation is rarely discussed in companies. I have friends who are waiting for de-occupation, but even when they talk to me, they choose their words because they don’t know what I do. And they don’t need to know, for my safety and theirs, because the Yellow Ribbon is tantamount to a death sentence.
Although we are friends, we try to avoid discussing politics. I talk regarding such topics only with my family, because you never know who might betray you, condemn you. You always have to think regarding what you say and to whom, even when standing in line. You think that no one is listening to you, but this is not the case – there may be rumors.
Propaganda works very actively. In the Kherson region, in the first months of the full-scale invasion, they also cut off all means of communication with the Ukrainian side and completely choked the Internet. The only source of information was Russian news and newspapers, some pamphlets distributed by them.
A car with a big screen is parked in the main city squares and parks. And if young people were not affected by this, older people, accustomed to constantly watching TV, took over. When you’re told the same thing three hundred times, you start to believe it. In Crimea, the situation is the same: they limit access to Ukrainian information sources, present Ukraine only negatively in all news, thus suppressing any rudiments of resistance to their rule.
At the same time, there are still many people in Crimea who do not support the war. Let’s say that anti-war and anti-annexation and commitment to Ukraine are different positions. People don’t want war, because no one wants to live in a state of war, no one wants missiles flying over their house – when you don’t know what kind of debris will hit your house and at what moment.
There are far fewer people who want de-occupation and return to Ukraine. But they are also there. And the Yellow Ribbon movement allows us to express this position. Despite the fact that Crimea has been occupied for ten years, not everyone has come to terms with it. And these people, even in such insignificant ways, can show that propaganda has not swallowed them. For many of those waiting for Ukraine, the “Yellow Ribbon” gives hope and the understanding that they are not alone. People cannot discuss their position with others. But when you walk around Simferopol and see yellow ribbons or “Yellow Ribbon” graffiti, you realize that you are not alone, and people in the territories controlled by Ukraine see that they are waiting for Ukraine.
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2024-04-06 11:49:51
