In this photo, the whole of Crimea, and, perhaps, any vacation on the Black Sea from Sochi to Crimea ... There are many apartments and rooms, for every taste, choose the sink you like ... Crimea still has to work and work on itself so that the Russians go on vacation.

Previously, it was budget, Ukrainian prices for everything smoothed out the general mess. And today there are a lot of problems, plus prices are much higher than in Moscow and the service is at the level of the last century.

Big problem cashing out bank cards. Although, as you can see, there are no problems, you throw the card into the trash can and wait ...
Since last year, the Mir card has become popular, which solved many problems with cards.

Kitchen. Cheap, impossible to eat, scary for your stomach. And in restaurants, Moscow prices are at least edible ... I am glad that there are a lot of fish and seafood. Beer only local, average quality. Wine? For a long time I do not take homemade, only bottled.

More than half of the cafes just need to be burned with napalm so as not to see them. I looked into one kitchen, still in shock ...

No matter how they write about the sanctions of Ukrainians, there are a lot of vacationers in Crimea.
Almost all signs are in Ukrainian language. They have remained that way ever since. Arriving at Simferopol airport, you see signs and announcements in Ukrainian. For example, the police) And below, as I understand it, Ukrainians are forbidden to smoke)) Maybe now some have been removed, but a year ago it was like this

But you can’t argue, the nature and views are beautiful. For every taste, mountains, sea, yet untouched nature.

Due to the mountainous landscape, the streets are narrow, the houses are stacked on top of each other.

The biggest problem is self-building.
This place is called Utes, Cape Plaka. And these houses are slipways, in other words, garages for boats. It started like a real garage, and then someone built another floor on top and off we go. Now there are 7-storey boathouses with elevators) The locals call this place - Pyatki in the sea... The sea is 5 meters away. You can sit and drink wine on the balcony, look at the sea and listen to the surf.

Or the Ai-Petri plateau, chaotically built up with hotels, cafes and retail outlets. This is a real jungle

Although it must be admitted, many problems have been solved. Demolished samostroy. The same Ai-Petri was cleared, many slums were demolished. Solved the problem with electricity. The roads are still bad. but at least they began to repair and build new ones. In fact, they built a new airport in Simferopol. Thanks to this, the airport already easily receives 5 million passengers a year. Moreover, by April 2018, the construction of a new passenger terminal should be completed. His work will increase the airport's capacity to 10 million people a year.
With a creak, but under the pressure of Russian tourists, the service is changing for the better.

Crimeans are very lazy people and don't like to work. Mostly former residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions work, there are a lot of them here.

Who cares, I have a lot of posts about Crimea for 3 years.

TV channel "Gromadske" prepared a report on the third Crimea as part of Russia. The journalists of the TV channel talked to local residents, including the families of political prisoners, and learned about their attitude and life within the Russian Federation.

Spectrum magazine publishes this material. The original is posted on the website of the Hromadske TV channel.

Three years ago, on the night of February 27, 2014, armed men seized the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. They turned out to be Russian military, which was subsequently confirmed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Thus began the annexation of the peninsula by Russia.

“It is very difficult to admit that you live in a concentration camp,” some say, while others have adapted and casually talk about the specifics of life in another country.

While preparing this material, Hromadsky's correspondent talked to a dozen people in Simferopol, Sevastopol, Bakhchisarai and Yalta. Lawyers, families of political prisoners, those who are under house arrest communicate quite frankly with journalists, realizing that publicity is ­ this is almost the last way to protect. People who decide to stay on the peninsula are better off not taking risks, even if the conversation is just about prices or roads. The editors decided to give their comments without giving names.

Photo: archive RadioSvoboda.org (RFE/RL)

"Why did you go to America?" a young Russian border guard asked me when I crossed the administrative border with Crimea last time. Therefore, now I decide to travel with an internal Ukrainian passport without visas and western border crossing marks.

On the Ukrainian-controlled side, a border guard officer still demands to speak louder about her profession and place of work - everyone who is in line hears it. True, there are few people - only those who have a need. For example, two Ukrainian-speaking migrant workers (those who go to work - ed.), who go to construction works in the Sevastopol.

To get to the other side, you need to get out of the car and walk for fifteen minutes with your things to the Russian checkpoint. It's half past three at night, no lighting, the stars are unusually bright. In the silence you hear the waves.

“Why do you have such a shabby passport? - the Russian finds fault at the passport control. - Or have you already decided not to change the document before marriage? But something you sat up in the girls. I would propose, but the next day they will fire me - we are forbidden to marry citizens of other countries. Are you going because it's beautiful? Is it beautiful? It's beautiful in St. Petersburg, but not here. No, it's the same climate. You say warmer? But the humidity is exactly the same!”

"Sober Crimea is invincible »

At the entrance to the Crimea, the telephone connection is turned off. Only Russian operators work here. A card purchased "on the mainland" - as the territory of Russia is called - does not work well, the so-called "domestic" roaming can cost $ 20 per day. A local SIM card can only be purchased by presenting a Russian passport, although a year ago we managed to buy a SIM card without a document three times as expensive.

Four days off - this is how Defender of the Fatherland Day is celebrated here.

Existing for the third decade, exchange offices were closed altogether. Local banks work with currency - they pay in the same window public utilities and fines. The hryvnia exchange rate is not even indicated - only euros and dollars.

The international payment systems Visa and MasterCard were blocked immediately after the annexation. For a long time on the peninsula they managed in cash. Now it’s the other way around: there are a lot of ATMs everywhere, specially repurposed to work in Crimea – “Genbank” and “RNCB”, but only account holders can withdraw funds. Large banks do not want to fall under sanctions.

“Gee, it was night, we bombed all the objects to the ground,” the song of a modern Russian pop group is heard from the speaker, they perform songs of the Second World War. The rally near the cinema "Simferopol" is organized by Zhirinovsky's party - the Liberal Democratic Party. The State Duma deputy begins with a mention of the battle on Lake Peipsi in 1242, and ends with congratulations on the occasion of the third anniversary of the "Crimean militia". It was February 23rd that was named their birthday. Schoolchildren with St. George ribbons sing patriotic songs. In the same square there is a “monument to the victims of the OUN-UPA erected by the communists of Ukraine” (as it is written on the monument itself), and a few meters away there are red carnations to the Soviet dissident, General Petr Grigorenko, who, in particular, defended the rights of the Crimean Tatars.

"From Rasputin to Putin - this is my Motherland" - this is already a song on Lenin Square, in front of the building of the so-called Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea. At the arms exhibition, children are photographed with weapons in their hands on armored personnel carriers and Urals, and girls take selfies with guys in uniform.

Not far from here is a monument to "Polite People". The girl gives flowers to the military.

It was here that on February 26, 2014, two rallies were held. One was organized by the Russian Unity movement, and the second was attended by those who decided to come out in support of territorial integrity Ukraine. Watching the archived video, you can see how Akhtem Chiygoz, deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people (which was recognized as an extremist organization in the Russian Federation in 2016), is trying to prevent clashes between the two groups. It is for participating in the rally that Chiygoz has been behind bars for two years now: he is charged with "organizing mass riots", which provides for a 10-year prison sentence.

I pay attention to the Crimean Tatar flag in one of the taxis, but this is rather an exception. Last year's trip to the Crimea was remembered by the fact that the drivers eloquently did not complain, and did not brag. And I didn't even want to explain what you were doing here.

“You must be from far away? We don't speak Russian like that. To the Western bus station? Are you going to Sevastopol?” Another driver asks again. Bakhchisarai is in the same direction, but let him think what he wants. In the end, I still answer that from Kyiv.

“And you will probably be detained for the Russian flag there. And you see, there are Ukrainian license plates here.”

Despite the weekend, there are huge traffic jams in Simferopol - a car boom in Crimea. Cars have become cheaper: You can buy a Lada for 10,000 rubles ($200), while a new mid-range Ford costs at least $9,000.

In addition, the military, security officials and bureaucrats from Russia were relocated to the peninsula. There are quite a few "Varangians" in the prosecutor's office, courts, police and government agencies, as they are called here. And their families came with them.

A familiar teacher has a colleague from Izhevsk. Others rent an apartment to a guy from the Kuban, who was promised "mountains of gold" at the construction site - 3,000 rubles a day ($54), but they do not pay at all, so he is already in debt for housing.

In Dzhankoy, for example, a helicopter garrison is quartered. Mass construction is underway. Real estate prices have skyrocketed. An apartment that cost $25,000 now costs $35,000. However, according to the ads, you can buy a house in Yalta for that kind of money. The embankment there is full of ads for "elite housing". However, they prefer not to talk about guarantees of the right to this property in the occupied Crimea.

“Did you see what a giant sanatorium is in the presidential administration?” - a woman addresses her husband, passing by Simeiz. - “Mira”, some kind of name.” We are talking about the resort “Mriya Resort & Spa” - the Ukrainian name “Mriya” (“Dream” - translated from Ukrainian) is written in Latin. Reconstruction of this Soviet boarding house took place even before the annexation. Sberbank of Russia". Reconstruction designed by British architect Norman Foster began in the fall of 2013, and the hotel was opened in August 2014. The complex is managed by the Turkish hotel chain Rixos, and it does not matter that Turkey does not recognize the annexation of Crimea.

Seeds "Tambov wolf", "Smolensk stew", "Tula sugar", sour cream "Kubanskaya Burenka", clinic "Siberian health". Geographical names, unusual for the Ukrainian ear, seem to signal how quickly it turns out that replacements can be organized.

“In Russia, 8 million people are addicted to alcohol,” the announcer says from the street speaker, this is an action within the framework of the all-Russian campaign to combat drunkenness. “The sober Crimea is invincible! Listen to us from Crimea to Chukotka, from Ivanovo to Novorossiysk.”

“Not serfs, but masters on this earth”

“I was born in deportation, but we were brought up with the knowledge that our homeland is Crimea. Our parents did everything to bring us back here. When we arrived, we never said, “Give us back our houses.” We appealed to the authorities to give us land,” says Elmira Ablyalimova, the wife of Akhtem Chiygoz, who was imprisoned two years ago.

We communicate in the microdistrict of Bakhchisaray, self-built by the Crimean Tatars. Elmira recalls: until 2014, she could not imagine that she would be on the other side of the barricades with people whom she considered friends and neighbors.

“The first year we lived in conditions of constant danger. Then Akhtem was arrested. At some point, I realized that I was tired of being afraid. I understand very well that we have not stolen anything from anyone and live on our own land. That is why it is so painful to read about the plans of some politicians to “lease Crimea”. We are not serfs to be rented out. We are the owners of this land, and these issues must be resolved with us. Of course, we understand that Ukraine is not up to it now, but we must not forget about Crimea.”

This week alone, 11 Crimean Tatars were detained here. Formally, the men seemed to interfere with pedestrians. They were taken to the police station simply because they came to support activist Marlen Mustafaev, who was accused of posting “extremist materials” on social networks.

According to lawyer Emil Kurbedinov, it was a video posted several years ago from a rally. True, the only witness for the prosecution in court said that he simply signed what the policeman told him to. It was an administrative arrest, so four were released, and six more are promised to be released in the coming days. If they are detained for this article for the second time, they can be imprisoned for 30 days, and then a criminal case.

The lawyer considers such actions of the security forces a warning: “The task is to make sure that arrests are not covered. They see that there are those who are not indifferent. And probably they want it to be like in other regions of Russia: for everyone to scatter when a paddy wagon arrives.”

Methods of pressure on the Crimean Tatars are habitual for Russian republics where Muslims live - Transcaucasia, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. Now the Crimean FSB is headed by Lieutenant General Viktor Palagin, who moved to Simferopol from Ufa. There, he dealt with the affairs of the Muslim party Hizb ut-Tahrir, banned in the Russian Federation, whose members are accused of terrorism.

Emil Kurbedinov, who was also temporarily detained recently, which is contrary to any legal practice, is working with the Crimean case of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Emil complains that even a part of human rights activists stood aside from cases concerning practicing Muslims: “The labels of terrorists were hung on my clients. But in Lately the wall breaks, people realize that it's just a pressure tool. People are uniting."

In one of the bedroom districts of Simferopol, in a crowded, noisy little room, it is difficult to realize that almost everyone here is the children of political prisoners. In the adjacent room with sweets and tea, women, most with their heads covered, are the wives and daughters of the detainees. At the head of the table are four more Crimean Tatars who have just been released from the pre-trial detention center. This is how the Crimean Solidarity meeting takes place, an initiative that brought together the closest relatives of the victims to support each other. In the meantime, adults are consulting on how to help each other, the volunteer group Our Children (Bizim Balalar) is organizing a holiday for children. Volunteers raise funds for 66 children of Crimean political prisoners, and also help the families of three missing Crimean Tatars and the family of Oleg Sentsov. Each child receives 5,000 rubles ($100) per month.

Most of the detainees - and these are practicing Muslims - have large families, women either do not work or cannot get a job. The organization is not officially registered, but operates in the legal field, because such charity is permitted by Russian law. “Let them only dare to do something to those who help children,” one of the volunteers confidently says.

“The possibilities of what we can do are quite limited. We do not recognize the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation, ”says Ilmi Umerov, deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and the most famous of the Crimean Tatars remaining on the peninsula. He himself is under investigation and under bail. In 2014, Ilmi was offered a job in Kyiv, but he decided to stay in Crimea. “The fact that we stay here to live is the most important thing. It's like an eyesore."

Of the 300,000 Crimean Tatars during the annexation, about 20,000 decided to leave their homeland.

“Leaving Crimea is like leaving a sick mother,” another well-known Crimean woman tells me. Unlike part of the Crimean Tatars, she is categorically against the blockade of Crimea, because she believes that the majority should remain on the land they dreamed of.

The unbearable complexity and lightness of being

“I always take the bypass road just to avoid seeing the city. We have created a parallel world and we live in it. That's the only way to not go crazy."

“If you are afraid, you can go crazy. Fear and emotions make people weak.”

“First there was indignation, then pain, and now indifference. The main thing is to set small goals for yourself, for example, to teach a child ... and so move step by step,” other Crimeans say.

A parallel world, in which there are no arrests of Crimean Tatars, exists for those who have agreed to the status quo. Some residents of the peninsula defiantly simply do not believe in persecution. Others appeal to numbers and to the fact that the "conditional majority" is already used to the changes. This “conditional majority” is a concept that has not been fixed by anyone for three years, which most often reinforces a personal position or impression.

“You should leave when you are in danger, or you can influence something from the mainland,” a Ukrainian pensioner tells me. For the Crimean Tatars, the choice to remain in Crimea was due to the Stalinist deportation of 1944, but they are not the only ones who disagree with the occupation. For all the time, about 3,500 Ukrainian citizens in Crimea refused to accept Russian passports. They had to be changed very quickly, and life without Russian documents creates a lot of problems. For example, a pensioner needs to prove that she has enough money to stay in Russia. Patients cannot receive medical care. There is still a risk that after the second administrative punishment they may simply be deported from the peninsula. Even having opened a Ukrainian account on the mainland, funds there still cannot be disposed of from Crimea: Internet banking is blocked. A student who has a "residence permit" may be considered unreliable. In some cases, parents would pick up their children from school for Skype lessons. Still, the question remains how easy it will be to enter a Ukrainian university after such training. “It’s been three whole years since, in fact, we lost business and earnings,” says a Crimean family on the anniversary of the capture of Crimea.

I speak with a young Ukrainian couple who, although they do not identify themselves as "relatively apolitical", nevertheless take a position close to this.

“Everyone bought cars for themselves, but for our people a car is still a sign of luxury. And gasoline at 42 - 45 rubles per liter (UAH 20). They also started sending them on business trips by plane. And now people have the feeling that the level of prosperity has really risen. At least that's how it feels."

Flights "Simferopol - Moscow", including the company "Aeroflot" depart every hour.

Wages have really gone up. The official average salary in Crimea is 32,000 rubles ($580 or 14,500 hryvnias), but I'm given numbers from 19,000 ($345 or 8,600 hryvnias) to 25,000 rubles (480 dollars or 12,000 hryvnias). Teachers have a bare rate of up to 6,000 rubles ($110, 2,700 hryvnia), but with various bonuses (the victory of students in olympiads, etc.) they can receive up to 20,000 rubles ($380 or UAH 9,500). The highest salaries are among the security forces.

“Why pay salaries to these deputies, anyway, they do not decide anything. And then pay them their pensions, too,” a conversation begins in a Simferopol minibus. We are talking about local deputies. Considering the prices, the pension is still not enough.

The average pension - from 5,000 to 15,000 rubles ($110 to $300) - is received by those who have completed work, as they say here, "under Ukraine." It was doubled and indexed at an overvalued rate. Those who retire today already have less - it has been equalized with the all-Russian.

But there is a really significant difference in the pensions of civil servants: up to 550 US dollars (30,000 rubles) and very rarely - 1,000 US dollars (60,000 rubles) for World War II veterans who received combat injuries and have awards.

But all this is partially offset by the high cost of products. Prices have skyrocketed along with salaries. Goods are more expensive than the average for Russia, also because they are shipped by ferry across the Kerch Strait. The "Crimean Bridge" is a new dream that has replaced the hopes for "Russian pensions and salaries."

They also complain about bad medicines. Import substitution works in Russia: if there is even a bad “domestic analogue”, the doctor is obliged to prescribe it.

Another test for the quality of life is roads. The driver in an old Zhiguli picks us up from a self-built Crimean Tatar microdistrict. Other cars are not ready to drive on such roads.

- In Simferopol, they say, everything has been repaired.

- See for yourself.

- This is the city center? And they are no better than our Bakhchisarai ones. How can I go back? the frustrated taxi driver worries.

Although renovations are taking place everywhere, these are really solid holes. The ex-prosecutor of the occupied Crimea, and now the deputy head of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption of the Russian Federation, Natalia Poklonskaya, has asked to force officials to be held criminally liable for poor-quality road repairs, TASS reports. The exemplary fight against corruption on TV screens is another sign of the current Crimea. But even three years later, the occupation authorities call it the heritage of Ukraine, although visitors are also caught on bribes.

Both those who agree and those who disagree with the occupation pay attention to the organization of the state apparatus, the speed with which the changes were introduced, and the availability of state funding, for example, to farmers. For example, uprooting a vineyard can be given a non-refundable loan, as well as some agricultural equipment.

People who cannot be called supporters of the authorities confirm that the electricity was almost never turned off this winter. Last year it took four months to restore the power supply, but everything worked on schedule, then the generators were delivered very quickly.

“Power and water shutdowns are what made Ukrainians turn their backs on Ukraine.” And there is such an opinion here too. And, probably, the most powerful argument for not complaining is the war in the Donbass. “There are a lot of people here who have relatives in Ukraine, whose children received summons to the army,” they explain to me.

"Three residents of the Simferopol region were awarded medals for participating in the military operation in Syria," writes the local pro-government news agency Kryminform.

“The worst thing that seems to me is if in twenty years a Crimean Tatar boy who grows up watching local television goes to serve in the army and shoot at the same Crimean Tatar boy who will retake Crimea,” they tell me. Despite everything, the thoughts of the Crimean Tatars are also divided on how to return the legal status of the peninsula.

“Today is the birthday of the classic of Ukrainian literature Lesya Ukrainka, a monument to her stands in Balaklava, where she lived for six months. And here three years ago we staged a Maidan,” former Ukrainian soldiers and activists tell me as we drive to the heart of Sevastopol, Nakhimov Square. The car has Ukrainian numbers. In the next row, a trolleybus "Moscow - Sevastopol" is painted. In the capital of the autonomous republic, I also saw a trolleybus donated by St. Petersburg.

One of the interlocutors is indignant at those who "sold their homeland for money", calling the whole discussion about prices and wages a substitution of concepts. Another tells of a former colleague sending a Russian pension to his son, who is serving in Ukrainian army He doesn't have enough for housing. In his defense, the former officer of the Ukrainian Navy claims that in this way he “undermines the Russian economy.”

Servicemen of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation, who used to be based in Sevastopol, now receive half as much: they no longer receive funds for business trips. But, as I am convinced, they do not complain. "Survive" became self-task.

“It is you who are trying to see in every shadow of your enemy, because without an enemy there is no fight, and without a fight there is no victory. Your task is to hunt down the enemy, catch up with him, surpass him, become better than him. big screen on Nakhimov Square, a video calls to join the contract army in Sevastopol. It is replaced by a clip in which a young girl, surrounded by children in sailor costumes, does not display very well:

"This city of worship and glory,

This city does not hold the weak

This city is always with me

My Hero City Sevastopol! "

In Artbukhta they sell balloons in the shape of a tank. We pass by excursions for tourists from Russia. A tanned, athletic-looking old woman with bright red lipstick tells how Ukraine was going to ship coal at the local port, so the city was in danger of becoming black, like Donetsk. Demonstrating a map of the city, he explains: the relief of Sevastopol helped to “protect the city” both during the Second World War and in 2014, because “Donetsk is in the steppe, there are no mountains, no sea ...”

Spouses from Rostov-on-Don ask again how to get to one of the war memorials. Another elderly woman explains in polished Russian that the place they want to go used to be a wonderful private collection from a Ukrainian museum, but it was taken away, so the boat doesn't go there anymore. She complains that although this square - Ekaterininsky - was looked after by Russia, under Ukraine it was more well-groomed.

What has changed in these three years?

- It became very hard. Gave Mount Gasforth to these Night Wolves. Horror. And also this staged patriotism. Your patriotism is understandable, you cultivate it from childhood, it is clear why. But in Moscow, I saw on TV, they are creating a "Park of Patriots". What is this militarization of society? Here Admiral Menyailo was in charge. And what? Excuse me, I understand that you are a military man. (My friend managed to explain that he is retired, and I am a guest from Kyiv). But, baby, give me an answer, what's the first thing they teach in the army? Well really? Well what?

- Obedience.

- Well done! Obey and not think, otherwise there would be no army. And what is the second? Well, think, think, what else is actually being taught? What should a soldier be able to do? Speak ... - she insistently demands an answer.

- Well ... kill ...

- Smart girl! Kill.

She herself was born in Orenburg, studied in St. Petersburg, and has been living in Sevastopol since 1976. I quarreled with my friends, most of whom went to the "referendum". Although he tries to explain that the lack of competition did not lead to anything good, therefore, if there are only “domestic” Russian stents in hospitals, then no one is better off. And the northern, say, St. Petersburg factories are not very willing to give their orders to the south. Unless he advises everyone not to watch TV. “But what to watch if a person is bored?”

I finally tell her that a Russian woman from Sevastopol should, in theory, support the arrival of Russia.

It starts to rain, and we say goodbye. She returns.

"You will rise! I believe. Get out, ”says goodbye.

“The biggest thing that keeps us going is the good news from Ukraine. I used to look with passion at our government, political scientists, but at some point I realized that they seemed to live in a parallel reality, not understanding either the motives of their opponent or their actions,” a retired Ukrainian officer tells me. “The Russians want to prove to us that we are the same, only without oil. And we have to create other rules.”

How are things in Ukraine? What is really going on? “That’s literally how every conversation ends.

“What can Ukrainians do for Crimea? I ask. They answer me: "Demand the return of the territory of their own country."

I'm leaving already. The connection is bad, but the call still breaks through.

“Listen to what else I wanted to say. What needs to be done? When you drive through Chongar, the first thing you see in controlled Ukraine, crossing the border, are stray dogs, emptiness. So you wait three hours, and then the devil knows what ... A trifle, but ... Well, you understand?

Simferopol-Bakhchisarai-Sevastopol-Yalta

Three years ago, a referendum was held in Crimea, as a result of which the republic became part of Russia. A Ukrainian citizen visited Crimea on the eve of this date.

Three years ago, a referendum was held in Crimea, following which the Republic became part of Russia. On the eve of this date, a Ukrainian citizen visited Crimea and talked with dozens of people in Simferopol, Bakhchisarai, Sevastopol and Yalta, learning their attitude to life as part of Russia.

Monuments, communications and banks

She entered the territory of Crimea with an internal Ukrainian passport without any visas. At the border, she met two Ukrainian-speaking migrant workers (those who go to work) who were on their way to construction work in Sevastopol. After walking 15 minutes along the road, she approached a Russian checkpoint, where her documents were checked and she was allowed into the territory of the peninsula.

According to her, only Russian mobile operators work at the entrance to Crimea, and SIM cards are sold only with Russian passports. Instead of exchange offices, banks were opened everywhere, specially repurposed for work in the Crimea, and ATMs were installed. Prior to this, Crimeans used mostly cash.

www.ntv.ru

Passing through the city, the guest from Ukraine heard patriotic songs being played from the speakers. They are also sung by local schoolchildren, who on the eve of February 23 held St. George ribbons in their hands. In one of the squares, she saw a rally organized by the Liberal Democratic Party. There is also a monument to the victims of the OUN-UPA 1 1 erected by the communists of Ukraine, and a monument to General Petr Grigorenko, who defended the rights of the Crimean Tatars. Nearby, she saw a monument to "polite people." As you can see, no one destroys or breaks the monuments. By the way, no one demolishes the monument to the classic of Ukrainian literature Lesya Ukrainka, which stands in Balaklava. At the arms exhibition, children are actively photographed on armored personnel carriers and Urals, girls take selfies.

Auto boom and facelift

In a taxi, the driver told her:

The Ukrainian noted that there are a lot of cars in Simferopol. The car boom is caused by the fact that cars have fallen in price: you can buy a Lada for, for example, 10,000 rubles. In addition, now there are many military and civil servants on the peninsula who came with their families. A helicopter garrison is quartered in Dzhankoy. Mass construction is underway. Her familiar colleague rents an apartment to a man from Izhevsk. Another friend rents out a house to a guy from the Kuban who came to do construction work.

Driving past Simeiz, she heard a woman talking to her husband about the gigantic sanatorium they were passing. This is a resort previously known as "Mriya", but now it is "Mriya Resort & Spa". Even before the referendum, this Soviet boarding house began to be reconstructed under the leadership of Sberbank of Russia, and already in August 2014 it was opened. The reconstruction project was ordered by the British architect Norman Foster.

www.irida-tur.com

Roads, pensions, salaries

In stores, a citizen of Ukraine saw a lot of products with Russian names. She emphasizes that it turns out that the replacement can be arranged very quickly. One of her acquaintances, a Crimean woman, told her at a meeting:

A young Ukrainian couple told her that now almost everyone has bought cars for themselves, and they began to send them on business trips by plane. Flights "Simferopol - Moscow" really depart every hour.

They also said that the level of wealth has risen. Wages also went up.

People give different numbers: from 19,000 to 25,000 rubles. Teachers are paid different allowances. The average pension is from 5,000 to 15,000 rubles. After the referendum, it was doubled and indexed at an overvalued rate. Now the Crimean pensions have caught up with the average level in Russia. Veterans of the Second World War who received combat injuries and have awards receive about 60,000 rubles.

With the commissioning of the bridge across the Kerch Strait, food prices should drop because now they are transported by ferry. Drug import substitution programs are being actively developed on the peninsula. In the cities, the streets are being renovated everywhere, because there are only holes left from Ukraine. Former Crimean prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya asked the Duma to introduce criminal liability for poor-quality road repairs.

Light and peaceful sky

All residents pay attention to the organization of the state apparatus, the speed of change, the availability of state funding. So, many farmers can get a non-repayable loan or agricultural equipment. Another important point- This winter, the light was almost not turned off. Last year, the energy blockade of Crimea, arranged by Ukrainian radicals, was quickly removed due to the delivered generators. By the way, this Ukrainian sabotage finally turned many Ukrainians in Crimea away from their former homeland.

In addition, everyone is glad that there are no hostilities in Crimea. The servicemen of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation, who were previously based in Sevastopol, continue their service.

Already leaving Crimea, she met another Ukrainian citizen, a former military man, who spoke:

The picture in Crimea looms quite peaceful and calm, while Ukraine continues to be torn to pieces. Therefore, to talk about some kind of occupation, in fact, is quite ridiculous. Three years have shown that Crimea did not become Russian yesterday, but has been for many years.

1 An extremist organization whose activities are prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation

Exactly three years ago, the inhabitants of Crimea and Sevastopol voted for joining Russia. RBC figured out how it affected their lives

“The territory of innovations with outpacing rates of socio-economic development, which has formed qualitatively new standards of life for the population and created the best business conditions in Russia”, where “the main value is a person”, and “all the efforts of the authorities are aimed at improving the quality of life, creating better conditions for the comprehensive and harmonious development of the individual. Such a utopian image of Crimea is outlined in the Strategy for the socio-economic development of the region until 2030, which the local government approved at the beginning of this year. The authors of the document define it as a strategy of "Three wins" - in the struggle for human capital, for innovation and for the investor.

But so far, three years after the annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol to Russia, the standard of living on the peninsula remains below the Russian average, the infrastructure and equipment are badly worn out, investments in fixed assets are more than 40% budget funds, and local entrepreneurs complain about the unavailability of loans. The “youngest region of Russia” is facing a demographic threat: the population of Crimea is aging and, without taking into account migration, is decreasing due to high mortality. Western sanctions, with no end in sight, have isolated the region from foreign trade and foreign investment, while Ukraine has imposed a transport and energy blockade of Crimea and cut it off from the Dnieper fresh water, which until 2014 provided 87% of local needs. All this has effectively turned Crimea into an “island” from an economic point of view, the Russian National Energy Security Foundation noted in a 2015 analytical report (.).

The euphoria has passed, but people are happy

On March 16, 2014, almost 97% of the Crimeans who took part in the referendum voted in favor of joining Russia. Three years later, despite socio-economic difficulties, the vast majority of residents of Crimea and Sevastopol are generally satisfied with the state of affairs in the region, data from the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) show. In November 2016, 78% of residents of the Republic of Crimea and 74% of Sevastopol residents answered that they were satisfied with the situation in the region (although in December 2015 it was 86 and 80% respectively), and 69% of Crimeans (63% of Sevastopol residents) said that the situation is improving.

According to FOM sociologists, the residents of Crimea are most concerned not about rising prices, unemployment or low wages, but about traffic problems and traffic jams. In conversations with an RBC correspondent, local residents complained about high prices in stores, but the incomes of Crimeans are growing at a faster pace, and inflation, after 26% in 2015 (the highest level among Russian regions at that time), slowed down to 7% last year. For comparison, the average per capita money income in the republic increased in 2016 by 21% compared to the previous year, up to 19 thousand rubles. (preliminary data from Krymstat).

Three years ago, on March 16, Crimea returned home. The decision was made in a referendum, where, with a turnout of 83.1 percent, 96.77 percent voted in favor of reunification with Russia. Judging by the constant polls conducted by independent press centers, Crimeans do not regret their choice. Russia also does not regret anything, despite all the threats and sanctions. The Crimean story evoked a sense of pride in Russians, forced them to rethink and evaluate the state interests of the country, to rally around the president and his policies.

Now you can often hear that the euphoria among the Crimeans has passed, disappointment has begun. But this, to put it mildly, is not true. There is some dissatisfaction with the speed of changes taking place on the peninsula. But there are objective reasons for this: to make a region that has been dying for a quarter of a century prosperous under sanctions and the EU's refusal to recognize the results of the referendum is a daunting task.

For three years, Crimea has experienced an energy blockade, blocked waterways, transport isolation, attempts by official Kyiv to disrupt the holiday season, and an invasion of saboteurs. Russia has broken through the energy blockade, taught the Crimeans how to use their own water resources, is building a bridge across the Kerch Strait, repairing roads, building social facilities. Problems with water treatment facilities and waste disposal are being solved. Crimeans receive all social benefits in force in Russia. A special target program has been created, according to which by 2020 it is supposed to solve all the main economic and social problems of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a city of federal significance. In total, the peninsula will receive 681.2 billion rubles.

Today, Crimeans most often complain about prices. Yes, in the Ukrainian Crimea they were lower, but the pensions were four times less. Fundamentally, the situation should change after the commissioning of the bridge across the Kerch Strait, when the delivery of goods from the mainland will be simplified many times over. “During the Ukrainization of Crimea, Kyiv sent educators, security officials, officials to the peninsula… He sent tens of thousands, sent them for the sole purpose of eradicating the Russian language, forcibly excommunicating the Crimeans from Russia. After the return of Crimea, most of them remained on the peninsula. After all, they had positions here, apartments, summer cottages, plots of land. Most residents of cottage villages around Simferopol and Sevastopol, on the South Coast - are still citizens of Ukraine. At first they were afraid and hid, now they are slowly forming into a protest electorate. They do not like that prices in Crimea have become like in Russia, that there are problems at the border, that it is impossible to bring tomatoes bought in Kherson to Crimea, and so on. But their parents already receive Russian pensions, which are three times higher than Ukrainian ones; they have Russian medical insurance, which they had no idea about when they came to Ukrainian hospitals with their medicines and chamber pots,” says Oleg Ayupov, a retired captain from Salekhard, a veteran of the Russian Armed Forces. In 2014, he was in Sevastopol just before the March referendum. Now he is actively leading the “Russian Crimea” thread on the Global Adventure website, so he can judge the situation in Crimea objectively and honestly.

He is a Tatar, and the national question is not an idle curiosity for him. Crimean Tatars today do not separate themselves from other Crimeans. It’s not worth talking about discrimination at all: schools teach in Russian and Crimean Tatar languages, they have their own TV channel. The older generation, which made the period of returning to the Crimea from deportation, communicates with each other, as a rule, in Tatar, the middle generation and young people speak mainly in Russian. The sphere of trade and public catering in resort towns and cities is 80% concentrated in the hands of entrepreneurs from among the Crimean Tatars.

By the third anniversary of the reunification of the peninsula with Russia, the most important transformations took place in social sphere. New schools and kindergartens are being built, medical facilities are being modernized. The queue for kindergartens on the peninsula has almost halved. If for 23 years only 260 places were created in Ukraine in preschool institutions, then for three years in the Russian Crimea - almost 10 thousand. In 2017, the republic plans to build about 50 modular gardens and close the issue that has not been resolved for decades.

Place in kindergarten received the daughter of Elena Trusova. Her family fled Gorlovka at the height of the war in Donbass. She has already received Russian citizenship, her husband has not yet, so she has to do odd jobs. The former miner works at a construction site in the winter and cleans the beaches in the summer. “Kindergartens are appearing, we are very grateful for this. How grateful that the Crimeans do not distinguish between our children and their own. While I was a refugee, I received humanitarian aid from the Red Cross. Those who still do not have citizenship are still being given: food, personal hygiene products. In Sevastopol, all the refugees know Lyudmila Gurchenko, she helps everyone from the first day. People brought things and food to her tent. She dressed everyone - both adults and children. For each New Year arranges holidays for children with gifts. Of course, it is difficult, the prices are high, but here is the world,” she shares.

Another topic is medicine. Almost all health care institutions have begun a major overhaul, which has not been done since Soviet times. Newest medical centers are being built from scratch in Yalta and Simferopol. The ambulance fleet has been almost completely renewed after reunification with Russia. Over the past year and a half, regional vascular centers have been opened in Sevastopol, Evpatoria and Simferopol. The latest medical equipment allows you to quickly diagnose and prevent further development in patients with heart and vascular disease. The number of lives saved is in the hundreds. “We have opened a neurological department in Evpatoria. New medical equipment was delivered to Simferopol. For the disabled, free medical insurance operations. True, the standard of living still leaves much to be desired: cuts, new taxes, leapfrog with documents, high prices, redistribution of property in horticultural organizations, endless courts are going on, but I think this is a matter of time. It's safe now, and that means a lot. I have no doubt that under the current Ukrainian government, we would have a caliphate and ISIS. Everything was prepared in Bakhchisarai. I remember how on February 23 flags with a crescent moon suddenly flew up on the buildings. It was scary,” says Svetlana Klepets.

Here, as before, the most popular souvenir is T-shirts with a portrait of Putin and mugs with the inscription “polite people”. People really appreciate the peace that they managed to keep on the peninsula three years ago.

For three years, Crimea finally said goodbye to the past. The peninsula has big plans, and not only in the resort industry. The region has a huge potential - infrastructural, industrial. A Special Economic Zone has been created in Simferopol, where high technologies from the fields of microelectronics and communications will be introduced. Crimea also links future achievements with shipbuilding and ship repair enterprises. The enterprises of the canning industry, agro-industrial complexes of horticulture and greenhouses are opening. The production of unique essential oil products has already been opened, nurseries are being created for growing grape seedlings. Already existing selection and genetic centers receive grants for support and development.

Tourist season recent years showed all the inconveniences and weaknesses of the ferry crossing, so everyone is waiting for the Kerch Bridge - tourists, Crimeans, and business. Even the wine companies of the Kuban and Crimea decided to celebrate the construction of this bridge. Nineteen thousand bottles - in accordance with the length of the bridge - collection wine called "Crimean Bridge" are laid in the cellars of wineries. Wine with these labels will go on sale on the day the bridge is launched. The Crimean "Massandra" pawned six thousand bottles of white muscat and six of sherry. The factory of champagne wines "New World" laid seven thousand bottles of "Pinot Noir" from Sevastopol grapes, most similar to Champagne berries. The Krasnodar side has pledged exactly the same number of wines of its own production.

Yes, the euphoria is gone. Crimea is one of the regions of Russia with its own problems and achievements. In other Russian regions, they are no better and no worse. Not so long ago, a Crimean colleague wrote to Oleg Ayupov: “Russian citizenship had to be earned, but it was given to us… To be honest, not everyone here deserves it, it will take a very long time to eradicate the metastases of Ukrainianism.” Harsh, but honest. Crimea is ours. Russia annexed Crimea not temporarily, but forever. I did it at the request of the people. And this is the strength of a great country.

Lilia Gorokhova, IA Sever-Press.