This is a piece on Crimea lifted from Roussky Reporter, an independent Russian magazine. I landed on it through Courrier International, a French weekly translating articles from the world press. Their sources are well chosen, and
their wesite includes a description of each of the media sources they use, its ownership, political position, etc. Here is the entry for Roussky Reporter:
As its name suggests, this magazine emphasizes reporting. Created in 2007 by the Expert group to be a “newspaper to read and look at”, its ambition is to “recount the life of modern societies” using quality texts and the work of the best photographers. Despite a certain notoriety validated by numerous prizes, it ceased its weekly rhythm from 2015 and only appears twice a month in the best of cases. Their website has its own editorial staff.
All this prefacing to say this is a Russian source, but a fairly decent one. The article dates back to March 2019, before the war when some free reporting was still allowed.
The text was originally posted with a photograhy portfolio, that one can see
here or
here.
Crimea as an Island
Stanislava Novgorodtseva
“Alas, how small is an individual before the inexorable laws of history,” wrote Vasily Aksenov in the novel The Island of Crimea.
As a child, Crimea seemed to me a sacred, apolitical place. An island of original mythology with traces of ancient civilizations. Here I saw the sea for the first time. The annual vacation trips were something like visiting your beloved grandmother - time free from worries.
The Crimean peninsula has formed its own identity in the melting pot of peoples. At different times, Tauris, Cimmerians, Scythians, Romans, Goths, Huns, Greeks lived on its territory. In 1783, this place of intersection of different religions and cultures became part of the Russian Empire and was granted the glory of a royal residence.
With the advent of the USSR, Crimea was redesigned from a vacation spot for the elite into a resort accessible to the Soviet people. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the peninsula was part of Ukraine, and in March 2014 it was included in Russia. Since that moment, Crimea has been at the center of the main political conflicts of the last five years. New realities have made adjustments to my relationship with the place. A new political layer has wedged into the world of childhood and local mythology.
Politics took a tough toll on families: many quarreled, broke off relations with relatives on the other side of the Russian-Ukrainian border. Since 2014, according to official figures, 22,823 people have moved and registered in Ukraine as migrants - about 1 percent of the inhabitants of the peninsula, primarily Crimean Tatars and citizens whose fate was closely connected with Ukraine. Active migration in both directions is still observed, although crossing the border is increasingly difficult. Now there are relatively few “pro-Ukrainian citizens” in Crimea, but they exist, although they are afraid to openly express their position.
The division also affected the Crimean Tatar population - only a part of the elders accepted the new Russian government, appreciating the steps made towards them, including the recognition of property rights to the occupied land and buildings, and the assignment of state status to the Crimean Tatar language.
The zealous work of the security forces makes a depressing impression on the dissenting part of the people. Since 2014, 32 Crimeans have been convicted of participating in the activities of the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, which is banned in Russia. In Ukraine, it was not banned, and some people suddenly found themselves outside the law. Since 2016, the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, which is boycotting the annexation of Crimea to Russia, has been classified among the extremist organizations.
Among the Russian population, pro-Russian sentiments and approval of the current government prevail: in the 2018 elections, Vladimir Putin was supported by 90% of the inhabitants of the peninsula. However, there is an artificial planting of military-patriotic themes in education, in the landscape, in the environment.
State institutions and private companies compete in loyalty to the new government: billboards, house facades and bus stops are decorated with paintings depicting the Russian president and the tricolor. Civil initiatives to hang the Russian flag outside the windows are also not uncommon. Souvenirs shops are dominated by the same symbols, complemented by aggressive anti-American rhetoric.
But even [Russian] patriots complain that the increase in wages and pensions after joining Russia does not compensate for the rise in prices. Until May 2018, many lived in hope: “They will build the Crimean bridge, and life will begin to improve, prices will even out.” Alas, this did not happen - this year the same interlocutors no longer make such optimistic forecasts.
Tourism is still important for Crimea, but another problem has been added to the lack of infrastructure and services - rising prices. Unregulated camping and tourism remain stably popular, but do not help replenish the budget. And in hotels and sanatoriums - either Russians who are not allowed to travel abroad, or nostalgic pensioners. Service is worse than in Sochi, and the cost is higher than in Turkey.
There is a sense of isolation – there is no Sberbank, VTB, MTS, or other large companies in Crimea; they fear sanctions. And even the Crimean football teams have to play matches exclusively with each other. Small businesses also suffered; few were able to quickly reorganize themselves, taking into account Russian legislation and a rigid taxation system.
Another serious problem is the drought in the steppe. The energy blockade by Ukraine has somehow been overcome, but there is still an acute shortage of water. And first of all, the Crimean Tatars, who are engaged in agriculture here, suffer. When I saw how in the summer plastic containers with water were placed every 10 meters in the fields, I assumed that this was an irrigation system, but the owners of the fields explained: these are water dispensers for birds and rodents. Animals also suffer from drought and, in desperation, gnaw through irrigation hoses.
According to official reports, significant funds are being allocated to help the steppe regions, but there are no visible improvements yet.
Sanctions and individual restrictions on the territory of Crimea have reinforced the feeling of its isolation. The country of my childhood has been transformed into an isolated island somewhere on the map of Russia.
https://expert.ru/russian_reporter/2019/04/kryim-kak-ostrov/