Free pirate republics. Smuggling flourishes in LDN
Is custom giving the go-ahead?
One of the most fascinating attractions in LDNR is crossing the border with Russia or the demarcation line with Ukraine. Moreover, it is worth admitting that the process still delivers maximum discomfort on the side of the republics. After a series of publications on how pensioners die on CPVV with Ukraine, they more or less put things in order there. And to this day, this is an extremely tiring and unpleasant procedure, which sometimes takes more than one hour from the "foot and horse" residents of the republics.
However, the situation on the border with Russia is even worse. Over the past five years, local authorities have not bothered to put things in order at customs checkpoints and organize at least the minimum conditions for people there. There are no toilets, there is no way to hide from the wind and the sun, there is no first-aid post. When you switch to the Russian side, it seems that you get from a clogged aul into civilization: the scope of metal detectors, comfortable rooms, polite border guards ...
Convenience is simply vital. Sometimes the lines of cars stretch for kilometers, and passing customs takes many hours. A full house also happens in the pedestrian crossing sector: on especially “successful” days, 300-400 people line up near the crossing. Unfortunately, neither in Donetsk nor in Lugansk did not bother to provide their citizens with at least minimal amenities.
The border is not shut
Over the past years, the rules for importing goods into Russia have been significantly tightened, while the LDN customs legislation is gradually being liberalized. Residents of New Russia calmly import food, clothing and office equipment in quantities that can be explained by their own needs. But importation into Russia is subject to strict restrictions, especially with regard to medicines, food, alcohol and cigarettes. Food, vegetables and fruits, preservation, honey, etc. border guards do not miss. Alcohol is allowed to carry no more than three liters, cigarettes - no more than a block.
A necessary measure - in LDNR alcohol and cigarettes are several times cheaper than in Russia. And even in this case, there are alternatively gifted people who work as shuttles and cross the border back and forth, transferring the permitted minimums of excisable goods. The profit is small, but it is - in LDNR you can buy a block of cigarettes for 200, and a liter of vodka for 120 rubles. Shuttles operate in a similar way on Ukrainian CPVV. Devices, perfumes, utensils, etc. are actively “introduced” into the republics themselves.
However, all this is childish pranks - the main thing happens under the cover of night.
And even swim ...
Despite all the efforts of the border guards, the flow of smuggled cigarettes, vodka, honey, sausages and sweets cannot be completely blocked. The border with Russia is hundreds of kilometers of virgin steppes and rugged terrain, as if specially created for smugglers who reliably settled here long before the war. Entire border villages and even towns live off smuggling. Violators are regularly caught, transport is selected, real terms are given, but there are still plenty of willing people.
There are even crazy people who risk smuggling smuggling across the demarcation line (bypassing agreements with customs or the military). At the risk of running into a minefield or a bullet, they set their trails dry and even transport their cargoes through Seversky Donets to the LPR.
However, the main trade is nevertheless by railways (coal, gasoline) and motor vehicles on the contact line of the enemy, through specially designated paths laid through the gray zone, in agreement with the local commanders of units deployed on this site.
Who needs a war? ..
The situation, in principle, is typical of any armed conflict. What to say about cigarettes or fuels and lubricants, if more than once or twice there were situations when the parties traded ammunition with each other. Last summer, in the Gorlovka area, they even caught one high-ranking commander on this, and it seems that everyone was hushed up ... At the beginning of the war, there were often situations when the APU sold not only ammunition, but also weapons. Once, the commander of the unit in which the author served, the Ukrainians offered to buy thousands of armored personnel carriers for 20.
All these are inescapable grimaces of war, especially civil war. And the longer this confusion lasts, when hurricane shelling is replaced by months of useless vigils on the front lines, the greater the line of demarcation will pass from the hands of the military to the hands of the marketers. Actually, like power.
Information