Three days before the start of the annexation referendum a Russia in Ivanivkaa small farming town in eastern Khersonthe soldiers began to distribute information leaflets and even “10,000 rubles in cash & rdquor; (160 euros) to anyone who pledged to support membership. Unlike what happened in the cities, the new authorities there did not even bother to organize electoral colleges. “The soldiers They went house to house knocking on doors and they themselves marked the box of everyone who opened. Many people hid & rdquor ;, count now Oleksander Pshperovsky, a 54-year-old rancher who that day slipped into the wheat fields with his family so they wouldn’t be found. “Of about 300 houses that we are, only 10 opened & rdquor ;, he adds. Once the masquerade was over, the mayor and the neighbors adhering to the cause celebrated with a party.
That was the final fireworks in Ivanivka of the formal annexation signed days later by Vladimir Putin, an annexation that, according to the official results of the occupying authorities, supported the 87% of the population of Kherson. In Zaporiya, Lugansk Y Donetsk they gave even more stratospheric numbers, reaching up to 99.2% in the latter province. But in Ivanivka it had all started much earlier, around ten o’clock on the fateful morning of February 24, the start date of the Russian invasion, shortly after the roosters had stopped crowing. ‘But what are these doing here?’, the neighbors asked themselves that day, according to Pshperovsky. “They arrived very quickly because they entered from crimea. People did not understand anything & rdquor ;.
Since then everything has been gradually changing through intimidation and doctrine. In the busy areas has been entered ruble and in the russian resume in the schools. have been distributed free decoders to se her Russian television. And people have been told that they will not have to return the loans contracted with Ukrainian banks. “The people who does not cooperate with them, he loses everything & rdquor ;, says Pshperovsky already far from the land where he grew up. “The businesses that refused to cooperate were lootedThey took the keys from them and ordered the owners to leave the town & rdquor ;, he adds with a face of circumstances.
torture cellars
In his case, he dedicated himself to keeping his head down, living with his back to the soldiers and staying out of trouble. Which did not prevent three pigs and the sauna furniture from being stolen. “We were all interrogated, but some of them were taken to the basements even to break them mentally so that they would declare loyalty to Russia& rdquor ;, he explains in a story repeated by other sources. “They gave them beatings Y downloads electrical after bathing them in water. They were especially harsh on Donbas war veterans”.
Something similar counts Sergii Mukurizdirector of I am Khersona foster home located in Zaporizhia for Ukrainians who have fled the region. “The main reason people leave is the terror. Many have seen their relatives taken away. they put one bag on the head and they disappear for a week, two or a month & rdquor ;, he assures. “It is very common to see missing notes glued to street furniture busy cities”. The very cities that the new authorities have plastered with advertising posters where you can read “We are a single people & rdquor;, one of Putin’s favorite phrases, and “We are with Russia & rdquor ;.
Stanislav lived in Melitopol, a small town a stone’s throw from the Sea of Azov in the occupied area of Zaporizhia, with his wife and newborn baby. “There was a lot of looting and prices skyrocketed. The medicinesAbove all, they are scarce & rdquor ;, now affirms this 26-year-old tattooed man. Every day he had to cross several Russian military checkpoints to leave the city and go to the factory where he worked as a mechanic. “If I got a Russian, I always wondered if he was a nazi or a fascistinstead the chechens and the Dagestans They were much more polite & rdquor ;. Stanislav ended up befriending a soldier from the Dagestan who gave her money and diapers for her child after apologizing for what was happening.
russian passport
The straw that broke the camel’s back for some, the reason they definitely packed their bags, was the introduction of the passport and the russian citizenship in the occupied territories. All the newly bornas well as the orphans, have automatically become Russian. For the rest it is technically optional, but without adopting it you cannot register the car, open a business either certify a wedding. Sometimes he did not even earn a living, as happened to Pshperovsky, the pig farmer in Ivanivka. “You accept citizenship or you can’t continue working. No choice. That’s why I left, I had been unemployed for months. Now they will keep my house and my land, but I hope to get it back when Ukraine gets the region back.”
One day after arriving in Zaporizhia, a neighbor who had been left in charge of the house called him. Some collaborator had reported his departure. They were looking for him. “They entered my house and told my neighbor that I gave them 400 kilos of meat from my pigs or they would kill him right there Shooting&rdquor ;, he says without the slightest grimace of fear, typical of one who has normalized violence as a daily currency.
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