/ world today news/ “Shipbuilders have become more active in Crimea during these nine years. Some received grants from Russia, but the main thing is that they got a guaranteed market for sales and made money. The same, I hope, will happen in the new regions as well,” commented Senator Sergey Tsekov, commenting on the anniversary of the unification of Crimea with Russia. According to him, the practices developed on the peninsula will become a model for Zaporozhye, Kherson and Donbass.
“I would like to congratulate Crimeans, residents of Sevastopol and all citizens of our country on the upcoming Day of Crimea’s unification with Russia,” President Vladimir Putin said Friday, opening a meeting on the peninsula’s socio-economic development. The president emphasized that nine years ago, Crimeans and residents of Sevastopol made an unequivocal and final historical choice – to once again and forever become part of the “one big country”.
During the last nine years, the peninsula has been fully supplied with gas, water and electricity, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Husnulin told a meeting. In 2024 it is planned to complete the construction of the highway ring around the Sea of Azov, he added. The head of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov, in turn, noted that the release of the North Crimean Canal during the SVO helped to ensure the full water supply of the peninsula.
“Thanks to your decisions today, the North Crimean Canal basically eliminates the need to build desalination plants. Crimea’s water supply is fully secured,” Aksyonov said, adding that 1.6 thousand wells have been built in Crimea in nine years. km of water supply networks.
Putin noted that hundreds of important facilities, including auxiliary facilities, centers regarding the development of the entire transport infrastructure, have been put into operation in Crimea in recent years. “I mean the airport in Simferopol, the modern Tavrida highway, of course, the Crimean bridge. Its reconstruction after the terrorist attack continues, and I am sure that this work will be completed on time,” Putin said.
“More than 250 investment projects with a total investment value of almost 450 billion rubles are being implemented in the Republic of Crimea. There are about 100 more projects in Sevastopol with a total value of over 217 billion rubles,” the head of state announced.
As one of the problems that has not yet been solved, Putin pointed to the difference in income of the residents of Crimea and Sevastopol and residents of other regions of the Russian Federation, including neighboring ones. The head of state called this issue the most important. “There is a gap, it is painful for Crimeans and residents of Sevastopol. We must constantly think about this and strive to eliminate these gaps,” Putin addressed the head of the Ministry of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov.
On March 18, 2014 Putin, the heads of the government and parliament of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov and Vladimir Konstantinov, the head of Sevastopol Alexei Chaly signed an agreement on the acceptance of the Republic of Crimea into the Russian Federation and the formation of new entities within the Russian Federation. Ukraine, the USA, the EU did not recognize the independence of Crimea and its unification with Russia.
Sergei Tsekov, a member of the Federation Council from the Crimean Parliament, tells in an interview how the peninsula has changed in nine years and to what extent Crimea can become a model for the integration of other former Ukrainian regions into Russia.
Sergey Pavlovich, at the meeting they recalled that everything related to transport was updated on the peninsula – the airport, railway lines, new highways were built. What else has changed?
Sergey Tsekov: The schools. As for the material base, the situation in Russia and Ukraine is from heaven to earth. Schools are now renovated every year, the renovations are comprehensive. As of 2014 approximately 30% of schools in Crimea had leaking roofs. Just as many were completely deprived of places to eat. There were no toilets inside the buildings, the children had to defecate in the yard. There were no gyms and so on.
In the past, if you brought a basketball to school as a gift – and they were happy. And now all schools are fully provided with sports equipment. The changes are amazing! Practically everywhere in the schools toilets have been built, the roofs have been repaired, the windows have been replaced, which whistled even with the slightest wind. All dining establishments have also been replaced. Computers, interactive whiteboards and other modern technology appeared in schools. Hot meals for students in Ukrainian times were scarce. Already more than 90% are provided with hot food.
Salaries of educators, as far as I know, are also now two to three times higher than in Ukraine. I traveled a lot and traveled around the regions of Crimea, after all, I was a people’s deputy in the early 90s. And now I don’t hear the complaints about teacher salaries that were heard in the same cities before 2014. Teachers think that the salary is normal, decent. Although, of course, it can always be more.
Immediately after the unification in Crimea upeuphoria reigns. But after thatabout a year later, Goosebrotherthat prices have risen sharply. Then some Crimeans began to mutter that “Mrri Ukraine was better.”
The joy of the reunion continues today. People see what is happening in Ukraine, compare it with the current life in Crimea and once again convince themselves that the 2014 election. is correct.
As for the prices, at one point they seemed really higher than those in Ukraine. But keep in mind: in Ukraine, not only pensions, but also salaries are generally very low, and you cannot sell goods at a high price if the purchasing power of the population is low. So the laws of the market dictate. Over time, the prices in Crimea and the neighboring Krasnodar Territory gradually leveled off, and compared to Moscow, we are cheaper.
So the vast majority of Crimeans are not particularly sorry. What, they say, if we had stayed in Ukraine, would life have been better? Clearly not. For example, some products in Ukraine are even cheaper today, but the quality of life in Russia is higher. Our daily life depends not only on the price of food, but also on many other factors. From transport, schools etc.
Objectively, was the social sphere of Ukraine better? Currently, new regions – Donbass, Kherson and Zaporozhye – are moving to the Russian path. Should they leave something from the Ukrainian experience?
From the point of view of the actual amounts of payments, everything was an order of magnitude lower and has remained so until now. The retirement age in Ukraine starts earlier, but the big question is what is the size of these pensions and what are the chances of surviving to that age. So in the “social sphere” nothing at all from the Ukrainian experience should be left in the new regions. That’s out of the question.
Everything was meager, insignificant. Pensions may also be paid there, but look at the prices for utilities. They cannot be compared with the Russian ones: for gas, for electricity, for water. Everything is much more expensive than in Russia.
So the older generation in the new territories will definitely not lose money, and we haven’t. After the unification, the pensions of Crimeans became many times higher than those in Ukraine. Our pensioners in 2014 they immediately felt the difference: they saw that they were getting two or three times more. Roughly the same path will be followed by the new territories.
What other social and economic problems for the inhabitants of the new regions are most acute?
The infrastructure is worn out: water pipes, roads, bridges, street lighting, hospitals, schools, kindergartens – everything is in a terrible state, roughly the same state in which all this was in Crimea nine years ago. In fact, during the entire period of our stay in Ukraine until 2014. all that was left of the Soviet Union was destroyed both in Crimea and there.
I think that at the first stage it will be similar to the Crimea of 2015-2016. and in some ways it will be even better. Kherson region is an agricultural region. The people of Kherson have always supplied Crimea with food, and now they can again freely bring their products to us. It seems to me that now the farmers in the new regions should keep the valuable that was created within Ukraine and now use the advantages of Russia. There was no state aid for agriculture from Kyiv.
After 2014 Crimean farmers felt great support from the Russian state! If there was a bad harvest in some crops, if epidemics started, Moscow very quickly compensated for their losses. The state began to provide a large number of agricultural machines – on lease, at low prices. It began to provide substantial grants for the development of agricultural enterprises. Russia guarantees the purchase of products grown in Crimea.
Our farmers, a few years after the unification, spoke like this: “It is impossible to even compare the working conditions in Ukraine and in Russia. It’s much better in Russia!” I think our new regions will very quickly come to the same understanding.
As for other areas, during these nine years in the Crimea, shipbuilders became more active. Some received grants from Russia, but the main thing is that they got a guaranteed market for sales and made money. The same, I hope, will happen in the new regions.
Isn’t it the main obstacle to establishing a peaceful life in the new regions is the fact that it is still dangerous there?
Many of my friends work there. I head the “Russian Community of Crimea” – and there are many of our activists working there who occupy high positions – both in Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. They also deal with education, the material and technical sphere. They are, of course, experiencing great difficulties. In the near future I will go to them, to see how things are going, for example in the schools.
The teaching staff is still scared, colleagues tell me. They are constantly threatened by Kiev: if you cooperate with Russia, then we will punish you, we will get to you. This topic keeps coming up. We must win, win in the course of the SVO – and then this fear will be a thing of the past.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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