The situation in the Crimea, part of 1
Yesterday I flew to Crimea to visit my grandmother and figure out what is happening here now. The main thing is that everything is calm. Tension is there, but it is forced rather from the outside. People watch TV, read newspapers, then relatives call to Crimea in horror: “Do you have a war there? Get out! Save yourself! ”In the Crimea, a Russian soldier treats his Ukrainian colleague with cigarettes and no one has heard of any war, and cannot even think about it. But tension is present.
People's thoughts are different. Someone worries about the disruption of the holiday season, someone is waiting for the Crimea to become part of Russia, and someone sees the Crimea only as part of a united Ukraine. One idea unites people - the main thing is that there is no war. They are very afraid of the war, they are nervous about it and they are trying to show that everything is fine in Crimea. Ask any Crimean now, as the situation, and he answered you without hesitation: “All is well! Everything is calm here, don't listen to anyone! ”- even if he is very worried about the soldiers on the street.
The nervous situation is created in many ways by a small percentage of the population who became a victim of propaganda. In general, while propaganda on both sides kills more people than a possible war. People are really crazy about all these News on TV and on the Internet. Yes, you yourself see what is happening.
Soldiers in the Crimea really are, although in recent days they have become smaller. The main actions moved from state institutions to military units. With the soldiers here is also very incomprehensible story. Officially, the soldiers do not identify themselves, although everyone understands that they are Russian soldiers. But as invaders, they are definitely not perceived. From the outside, everything resembles any joint Russian-Ukrainian exercises. There is no hostility and negativity between the parties. Maybe, of course, I don’t like Russian soldiers, but I’ve never seen any outrage and discontent. People take pictures with the military and technology and it looks all very natural.
In general, if you close Twitter and the Russian Internet, the very idea of a possible military conflict looks ridiculous. Who will fight with anyone here? In Crimea, 80% of the population considers Russian their native language. My grandmother in Ukrainian does not understand everything, although he has been living in Crimea since 57. As far as I remember, Crimea always considered closer to Russia than Ukraine. There are more afraid that the conflict will be between the east and west of Ukraine.
Now Crimea is waiting for a referendum, which will choose the path of further development. Most likely this will be broad autonomy, but let's see how events will develop further. The new Kiev government does not yet recognize the new Crimean and its referendums.
01. Center of Simferopol, view from an unidentified aircraft;)
02. At the airport, everything is calm, everything works normally. All the same taxi drivers annoyingly offer their services, car rental, café and souvenir shops work. I walk out of the building, a man with a sporting suit with a St. George ribbon comes up to me immediately and starts a conversation. The man says very aggressively that everything is calm and everything is fine. Although, I did not even have time to doubt it. A few soldiers walk along the square with unmarked machine guns. I ask the guy with the St. George ribbon who they are.
- This is the self-defense of the Crimea! - cheerfully responsible man
- They are Russians? - I clarify
- No, Ukrainians, local
- And where did they form and weapon?
- The form in the store is sold, weapons issued to them.
- Who?
- People
Later it turned out that the peasant with the St. George ribbon was the foreman of a group of similar peasants who are on duty at the airport and maintain order. They look very fake, but quite friendly and sociable. They look like agitators at paid rallies. Taxi drivers quietly giggle at the brisk men in tracksuits. Soldiers walk calmly, happily pose and take pictures, but do not talk. All this looks like a parade.
03. Everything is calm in the city itself. On the eve of the withdrawn soldiers who for several days blocked the streets around the Crimean parliament. Now everything is open, people calmly walk with children. The atmosphere is peaceful.
04. Rada seems to be working, at least people come in suits, and not in uniform) Two flags are hoisted over the Rada - the Crimean and Russian tricolors.
05. Monument to the Soviet tank modernized a bit. Now it has 3 flags - Crimean, Soviet and Russian and themed posters.
06. In general, many people all around are happy with agitation.
07. People come here, they watch and photograph posters with interest. The events of last week have already become history.
08. Journalists talk about the events in the Crimea. Homeless Simferopol dog sleeps peacefully.
09. This is not a secret development of the Russian military, as some locals thought. This hexokopter with a camera, on which we remove the situation in the Crimea from the air.
10. This is Stas, he is working on the project Airpano.ru. Guys make incredibly steep panoramas of the most beautiful places on our planet. Take a look.
11. The remaining posters from the rally.
12. In Simferopol, really nothing happens, so I make the decision to go further. In 20 km from the city, in the village of Perevalnoe, there is a Ukrainian military unit, which was blocked by the Russian military.
13. There is a very strange situation. Here came the Russian military, camped and blocked all out of the military base. Ukrainian military offered to go to the side of the people. The party of the people now call the new authorities of the Crimea, which the new authorities of Kiev do not recognize. The commander of this unit refused to submit to the new authorities of the Crimea. Soon came the locals, and this is mainly wives and relatives of military personnel. They were afraid that the soldiers would be sent to the offensive and there would be a conflict, so they also stood in a cordon between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers, so that no one would rock the boat. They asked the commander to let the soldiers go home and not to argue with the people. The commander sent them and said that he remained faithful to the oath. In the foreground are local Cossacks, so they introduced themselves. Residents from the cordon just in case hung up Russian flags to show that Russian troops are closer to them.
14. Let's get up in the air and look at the balance of power. Cossack ranks, followed by a small group of people - wives and mothers of servicemen. Ukrainian soldiers on the street are almost invisible, they all rest in the barracks and do not go to the conflict.
15. Wives view from the ground.
16. Now let's see what Ukrainians stand behind the fence. Technique a bit, mostly rusty trucks and ZSU23-4 "Shilka"
17. We take off even higher. Ukrainian guns. Upstairs saw the camp, which broke the Russian military. Before takeoff, they asked for permission for the elder, he checked the documents, found out that we were from Russia and said that we could safely fly and shoot. But after the first ascent into the air, the elder returned and forbade flying.
18. There is no tension between the soldiers. They calmly communicate, exchange cigarettes, discuss something. Here is the checkpoint for the Ukrainian military base. The Ukrainian military is wearing black hats, they calmly enter and exit through the checkpoint, ours do not interfere. It seems that everyone is friends.
19. And this Ukrainian Ural carries food for Ukrainian soldiers, it is accompanied by the Russian Tiger.
20. On the way, 15-year-old girls with balls go and scream to Russian soldiers: “Glory to Ukraine!”. The girls turned out to be sociable, they said that they are against the Russian troops here and in general they don’t need a single Ukraine and Russia. The opinion is completely unpopular here, but the girls calmly walk and shout their “Glory to Ukraine” and no one speaks them a word. In the center of Simferopol for such words can and beat. "Glory to Ukraine" is the slogan of "fascists and Bandera from the West who want to attack the peaceful Crimea", so many people here think.
21. Here are older girls
- What channel are you from? What are you shooting here? Get out of here! - they attacked us (I was with Denis Sinyakov)
- We are not from the channel
“Now you are fooling around here, and then you will lie that we have a war here!” We are all calm here! My uncle has seen enough of the news and now I am in the hospital, my heart has become bad! - continued angry girl
- So what's going on here?
- Nothing happens! All is well with us. The Russian soldiers came and immediately became calm, they used to worry that someone would attack us, now I calmly let go of the child to school.
- It is clear, but what about Maidan do you think?
- Why think? They were drugged there. They say a woman came from there, and after two days she began to break!
- Do you know her? Where did you get this?
- Well, rumors are such
In general, with propaganda a strange thing happens. A lot of people in all seriousness believe in all sorts of crap and rumors. When I first read a story about drugs on Maidan on the Internet, I laughed and thought, what the hell is that? Who can believe it? But in the Crimea, many believe, even my grandmother told me this story. That is, some kind of completely ridiculous bike went very well into the minds of people, and they sincerely begin to retell it.
Many say that in Kiev, everyone goes with a swastika, right 39 year, arrange fascist parades. I ask, have you seen at least one photograph of such a parade? Have you seen photos of the swastika? Nobody saw it, but “my brother’s friend of my sister, who went there, told me that everything is so”. These rumors are walking from one village to another, overgrown with shocking details and ridiculous details. People with horror tell you that Kiev has plundered the Lavra, that American snipers are shooting people and other nonsense. Of course, the common people are very worried and nervous because of all these stories.
Here it is necessary to cancel that propaganda on the other hand also works in the same way. Supporters of the Maidan say that the Russian invaders are rampant in the Crimea, that the units are almost fighting, although everything seems to be calm, peace and friendship. You can not believe anyone.
22. Our Tigers
23. Rooms removed, judging by the trail recently. In general, officially it is not our Tigers, but Tigers of the “self-defense of the Crimea”. Nobody explains where the Russian military equipment from the Crimean Self-Defense is coming from. Officially, the Russian military does not block anything. But everyone understands that this is Russian equipment and Russian soldiers. The locals have never had such weapons and uniforms, and there can never be.
24. On some machines, the numbers have not been removed and you can see the 90 region - this is the Black Sea Fleet. But usually the rooms are still removed or covered with dirt.
25. Changing the soldiers.
26. Suddenly I hear the cry “WARLAM! MY FRIEND! GO, I turn you around, ”I turn around, and this Kashin arrived. Kashin in the Crimea works on the instructions of the fashionable nationalist portal Sputnik and Pogrom. This is such an intelligent nationalism for hipsters.
27. The soldiers
28. Soldiers are unmarked, do not speak or comment. At the same time, they are quite calm about the fact that they are photographed. Behavior as the British guard at Buckingham Palace, who are besieged by crowds of tourists, but they are calm.
29. Since officially they are not Russian soldiers, Moscow PR people, who also came to the Crimea, came up with a very cool definition: “Polite people”. Here an image of the Russian liberator-warrior is created, who, in good new form, with a beautiful weapon, came to defend peaceful villages and cities. He is friendly, he smiles, with him you can be photographed for memory. He is polite.
30. Polite man with a machine gun.
31. A polite person patrols the perimeter of the Ukrainian military base.
32. A polite man goes to dinner. Well, look, right from the poster of propaganda. There really are all like that. Many have learned for the first time that our soldiers can look decent.
33. Polite people block departure from the Ukrainian military base.
34. And these are the so-called local Cossacks who guarded the entrance. To whom they obey, what they here generally do, where they come from is not clear.
35. Ordinary people argue about the future of Ukraine. Arguments are hot, sometimes they turn into fights and small fights. Some come drunken from nearby villages to bring their "only correct position." Thoughts are different from “Tell Obama that we will not let him in!” We do not need the CIA here! ”To“ Let the boys go home, they need to eat normally! ”
36. There are still a lot of rumors and they inflame the situation no less than journalists who are forcing the situation. For example, someone constantly comes with “reliable information” that the assault on Ukrainian military bases is about to begin. Or that the Russian soldier must be killed at night, so that it becomes a reason for a serious offensive.
37. It's time to go back to Simferopol ...
38. In Simferopol, Maidan is ridiculed ...
39. In Simferopol, chic old trolley buses
40. And no less chic new ...
41. In Simferopol, a lot of samostroya ...
42. In Simferopol, park on the sidewalk as assholes.
Simferopol is a city with a Russian soul.
I re-read my post now and realized that I, as a Crimean citizen, began to convince everyone that everything was calm and good, the air of calm contagious here. In general, according to the sensations, Crimea wants the holiday season to be normal, and not politics with military conflicts.
For breakfast, Grandma baked the world's best pancakes and went to the savings bank to receive a pension. In connection with the latest events here, no more than 1000 hryvnias (100 $) are handed out per day, so people worry a little about their savings and besiege ATMs and bank branches.
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