Crimea will always be taken care of on a residual basis. By and large, it is only a common military base with beaches where you can also sunbathe.
“There is no money, but you must hang on” — these words, spoken by the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in response to complaints from the pensioners of occupied Crimea, have already become as popular as that other phrase from Medvedev’s recent past — “my words are cast in granite.”
And if the “granite phrase” was a reflection of Medvedev’s megalomania and intellectual weakness, then the words about money have become the definite consequence of Russian politics in occupied Crimea. The secure, fabulously rich crook, a representative of the corrupt clique that controls all aspects of life in a vast country, tells poor people to “hang on” — people, who because of him and as a direct result of the occupation have ended up in desperate circumstances.
Some may say that if Crimea had remained part of Ukraine, the pensioners would not be living any better simply because Russian pensions are still higher than the Ukrainian ones. Yes, the pensions may be higher. But the prices? And the cost the peninsula has to pay for being practically turned into an island? After all, after the occupation of Crimea, all the connections that were natural for the peninsula because of its geographic location have been severed.
Instead of land, there is water. Instead of the Isthmus of Perekop, there is the Kerch Strait. And yet for Medvedev, Crimea is a region like “all the others.” If someone had thought that the Kremlin would seek out “extra funds” in order to please the residents of the occupied territories, he miscalculated badly. In Moscow, they understand perfectly well that sooner or later they will have to return Crimea, and if they need to please anyone, it should be those who will remain no matter what. In this sense, Crimea will always be taken care of on a residual basis. By and large, it is a common military base with beaches where you can also sunbathe. The occupiers do not care about the “natives.”
On the one hand, this is a tragedy for the residents of Crimea. On the other hand, it is vaccination for all those on the peninsula and in Ukraine in general who dreamed about Russia and were ready to fall into the arms of the former metropolis along with territory. Russia brings only poverty. Isn’t this clear yet? There is no money.
And you just keep hanging on.
Related:
- Chronology of the annexation of Crimea
- Crimea’s economy, When Russia’s words and figures don’t meet
- Gorbachev’s support for Putin’s Crimean Anschluss – no surprise, Malgin says
- Days of solidarity with Ukrainians jailed for protesting Putin’s Crimean Anschluss announced
- 1997 Treaty gave Moscow right to send army into Crimea before referendum, Chizhov says
- Crimean Tatars no longer alone in remembering Stalin’s crimes against their nation
- Deportation, genocide, and Russia’s war against Crimean Tatars
- Open letter to the Prosecutor of occupied Crimea
- Occupied Crimea is Moscow’s test laboratory for repressions, Stelmakh says
